Fluorescence spectroscopy represents a very sensitive method, but fluorescence sensors are mainly used in academia and rarely in industrial processes. In this work, we present a newly developed functional model of an online fluorescence sensor. The sensor was miniaturised and constructed without any movable parts to detect important biologic fluorophores. Its performance was evaluated by calibration curves and selectivity tests and it was used for a biomass prediction of E. coli cultivations.

Endogeneous electric fields (EFs) affect a wide range of cellular functions such as migration, wound healing and regeneration. Similar results were observed when external EFs are applied. To date, the phenomenon of electrotaxis has been studied only in homogeneous EF environments. Here, we report on the construction and fabrication of a microfluidic biochip as well as first results for stimulation of cells with stationary, non-homogeneous EFs.

A novel cell-cultivation platform with small circulating volume and included oxygen controlling system is presented. This system may be used to investigate the influence of oxygen restriction, called hypoxia, to cultivated human cells and therefore helps to reduce animal testing in this field of research. Furthermore, a mathematic model of the oxygen transport is presented which may be utilized to produce well-defined oxygen microenvironments.