2024 in review
Hello! It's been an exciting year at Pioreactor. We've grown the team, launched new products, and added lots of new features. Let's explore some of our 2024 highlights!
1. Multi-experiments in your cluster
In May, we released a software update that allows users to assign workers to different experiments, and manage them all from the same UI. For users with lots of Pioreactors, this really simplified their workflow and made spinning up new experiments trivial. We think this is the most important change this year, as it turns the Pioreactor from an instrument into a platform.
2. Introducing Pioreactor 20ml v1.1
Also in May, we released a small upgrade to our Pioreactor 20ml - the v1.1 version. This modest redesign improved the optics, heating, and stirring of the original version, and finally had some legible text.
All Pioreactors shipped today are v1.1s, and you can purchase Pioreactor 1.0 → 1.1 upgrade kits in our webstore.
3. Live Pioreactor diagrams in the UI
We also introduced a webpage to view a live diagram of each Pioreactor in your cluster. This is a great tool to see what's happening currently, see how actions interact with each other, and can be displayed next to each Pioreactor.
4. Redesigned Export Data Page
In our most recent software update, we improved the Export Data page to have more output options, and a live preview of datasets before exporting them.
There's also a new API for adding datasets - so colleagues can share new structures for datasets and plugins can add new datasets to the Export page. Read more about adding datasets here.
5. Experiment Profiles: Smarter and Sleeker
Experiment profiles look quite different now compared to their 2023 version. New syntax, like while, if, repeat, and expressions, turn your profiles into living agents, able to respond to your cultures behaviour. For example, it's now easy to accomplish something like "if the growth rate exceeds 1.0/h, decrease the temperature by 5C every hour." Learn more about the new syntax for experiment profiles here.
We also gave the UI for profiles a facelift. Users now have a live preview of the profile as they edit the YAML.
What's next for 2025?
In the short term, we plan on releasing two new products that we are very excited about. I can't say much, but one will have you spinning and other will make you stretch 😉
For software, our next goal is to make calibrations easier to manage. We've already made some important fundamental changes this past fall that will make the goal of calibrations in the UI possible, and we have some ideas on easier creating, sharing, and editing of calibrations.
Stay tuned!