FIGURE 1.

Small-scale fluidized bed bioreactor. (A) Schematic representation the system setup. Culture media is perfused through the sFBB from the inlet to the outlet and recirculated to reservoir by the peristaltic pump. The setup operates inside a 5% CO₂ incubator (dotted box) except for the pump. Active gassing is achieved by gassing the reservoir through a silicone coil placed inside and connected to an air pump. Media changes are performed through the media change port on days 4, 7, 9, and 11. (B) sFBB prototype: 1 – inlet tubes; 2 – sintered glass distributor, with structure highlighted in (C); 3 – glass column; 4 – outlet tubes.