Extending your Pioreactor's OD range with the Pioreactor XR upgrade kit
Today, we are introducing a new way to get deeper insights from your Pioreactor. The Pioreactor XR Upgrade Kit (available for both the Pioreactor 20ml v1.5 and Pioreactor 40ml v1.5) extends the range of your Pioreactor's OD to measure both 100x lower and 10x higher density cultures than our standard OD.
We accomplish this by adding two new OD sensors at the 45° and 135° scattering positions, along with the standard 90° sensor. The new 135° sensor is most sensitive at very low densities - ideal for cultures in the early growth phase. The 45° sensor is most sensitive at higher densities - great for late-stage growth in cultures. The 90° is sensible in between these extremes - neither very low or very high. Our latest software update has a routine to combine these three sensors - 45°, 90°, and 135° - into a single reported OD value.
The Pioreactor XR is designed for users who are hitting OD limits, including:
- turbidostats operating near saturation
- late stationary-phase or high-density cultures
- growth-rate estimation over long experiments
- experiments where dilution adds error or overhead
The Pioreactor XR works with out latest software
We have a big software update coming out today too! New is ability to run calibrations in the UI:
The latest update also has improved the calibration curve fitting algorithm, a new "fusion" calibration that accepts multiple sensor signals → a single fused measurement, performance improvements, and better concordance between clusters of Pioreactors.
Conclusion
Like how the original Pioreactor delivered on the promise of "accessible microbiology", we are once again bringing otherwise inaccessible data to your research. By gathering more scatter data, we can learn more about the state of your cultures. The XR upgrade kit is available today!