Multi-experiments are now available in your cluster!

Apr 05, 2024 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

Users with multiple Pioreactors have been asking for the ability to host multiple experiments and assign Pioreactors to them in your cluster. And now, with software version 24.4.3, you can! This means you can more easily share your Pioreactor cluster with colleagues, or manage student experiments in one view.

Experiment profiles are your secret to bioreactor automation

Jan 30, 2024 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

Last summer, we released experiment profiles as a way to headless-ly control your Pioreactor from a file. We described them as "scripts (like a movie script) that you can write to automate activities in your Pioreactor cluster." Initially, the actions you could run were simple: start, stop, pause, resume, & update jobs. You couldn't pull in live data into profiles to make dynamic decisions, or repeat actions.

With the software release 24.1.25, and the next upcoming release, experiment profiles changes from just a "movie script" to a "live-action, audience participating, theatrical performance"!

Expanding Pioreactor's Open-Source Ecosystem

Jan 09, 2024 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

Our Pioreactor 20ml is built on so many open source projects and ideas - we can't help but return the favour. That's why, for the past 3 years, our software has been 100% open source. We've promised to open sourcing more as we grow, and today is another milestone day on that journey.

Our Pioreactor 2023 review!

Dec 20, 2023 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

What a year it's been! It's hard to believe we launched in February. We've learned a lot about what our users like about the Pioreactor, and what they want to see more of. With all this in mind, we have a great roadmap for 2024. More on that later. Let's talk about 2023!

Here's a list of just some of the great improvements we've shipped in our first year:

Hardware

The new Vial Cap As, entirely 3D printed from polycarbonate
High temperature upgrade kits for the Pioreactor
A new in-situ temperature probe and our first stacked HAT
An improved Pioreactor vial holder

Software

Experiment profiles! These let you control the Pioreactor autonomously
New Bookworm OS: provides a much better local-access-point, and improved performance for the Pioreactor
Six new plugins, including relays, CO2 monitors, & LED displays
A historical experiment viewer in the UI
Ability to create custom charts in the UI
Lots of bug fixes, spanned over 31 software releases.

Highlights from 2023

Launched to public

Feb. 2023

Countries shipped to¹

22

Pioreactor units sold¹

350+

Printers in our print farm¹

5 What's in store for 2024?

We have big ideas to help you improve your Pioreactors. This includes: new sensors that plug-and-play into your Pioreactor, an improved dosing system, new lid designs to integrate with external glassware, and more. I can't say everything just yet...

¹ as of Dec 20th, 2023

Raspberry Pi's New OS Bookworm: Advancements for Pioreactor

Oct 23, 2023 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

Every two years, Raspberry Pi (the company) releases a new operating system that comes with some great improvements. Last week, they released their latest iteration, called Bookworm. The Pioreactor software is a derivative of their operating systems, and were really excited about this release. It offers some significant improvements for our software which I discuss below.

We’re Stacking Hats

Sep 12, 2023 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

When we need to add new hardware to the Pioreactor, we've chosen the very simple and very funny solution: stacking HATs. That's right, we're stacking HATs right on top of each other. The stacked HAT mechanic provides a really user-friendly and modular way to extend a Pioreactor. We can design and build new HAT hardware to extend functionalities. Users can mix-and-match which HATs they want to use, and the community can design HATs, too.

Upgrade your Pioreactor with a high-temp plastic

Aug 31, 2023 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

So starting today, we're offering two upgrades:

1. When you purchase a Pioreactor, you can upgrade to PC-CF and never have to worry about how hot your plastic will get.

2. An upgrade kit to replace your existing PLA Pioreactor with PC-CF.

A collage of four photos, each showing a different insert into the g1/8 hole. 1) our default closed plug, 2) our additional silicone tube plug, 3) a metal barb, 4) a thermowell

A new vial cap design for the Pioreactor 🎉

Aug 14, 2023 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

We mentioned in a previous blog post that we are now 3D printing our vial caps, and how this opened up a much larger design space for us. Well, introducing the first stop in this design space: our new Vial Cap A!

New shipping pricing and bulk order discounts!

Jul 20, 2023 Posted by: Cameron Davidson-Pilon

Free shipping on orders over $500 USD!

We've negotiated better rates with our shipping supplier, and are passing those savings on to you. For orders over $500 USD (that's equivalent to two Pioreactors), we'll wave the cost of shipping.

Bulk discounts when you purchase 10 Pioreactors

When you order more than 10 Pioreactors, you'll receive a 5% discount. Even better, this count includes all your previous orders, too! So if you ordered 4 Pioreactors previously, and 6 more today, you'll get the 5% discount on your latest order of 6 Pioreactors.