Figure 1. A dynamic bioreactor system.

A schematic overview of the system (A) shows its three major sections: an upstream section consisting of medium supplied from a syringe pump with a constant flow rate and a port for the input of a stimulus, and silicone tubing that is long enough to allow the medium stream to reach the necessary temperature and CO₂ concentration inside an incubator before entering a culture vessel; a perfused culture vessel, in this case a plugged well; and a downstream section of tubing that leaves the incubator and leads to a fraction collector, which distributes the effluent stream into a series of collection tubes over time. (B) A photo of the real system without an incubator. In addition to a single plugged well, two simple culture vessels that can be used include a hollow fiber bioreactor (C), or two plugged wells in series that act as a one-way co-culture (D). More complex setups can also be perfused, such as a circulating loop between a bioreactor and a medium reservoir, with and inlet for fresh medium and outlet for continuous sample collection (E), which can reproduce the dynamics of a compartmental pharmacokinetic model.