The basis of all LBP manufacture is having a medium that supports reproducible and robust growth of the organism of interest. Since developing a defined medium can take a long time, a commonly taken approach is to add many complex components to a medium so that the organism will grow to at least a minimum density required to generate clinical material. The trouble with this approach is that many complex materials such as partially digested plant or animal proteins show a considerable batch to batch variation in composition which affects the reproducibility of the fermentation. Additionally, a number of amino acids or other components present in complex raw materials have the potential to interfere with growth rather than support it.
BioLyo’s approach to medium development is to minimize the contribution of complex raw materials in the medium, and identifying which substrates are essential to an organisms’ growth. Additionally, this approach is quite standardized and leads to practical results quickly. Using publicly available literature and metabolic databases has greatly facilitated medium development, i.e. after a couple of iterations in shake flasks or Hungate tubes the main substrates are identified and used to create a medium that supports robust growth in a medium with very limited complex materials. Usually this leads to a medium that supports growth to higher cell densities than the media described in literature, providing far better control of the fermentation.