The next set of lectures in this course cover a number of topics including fermenter design, power consumption, oxygen transfer and mixing. The aim of these lectures is to understand how the design and operation of a fermenter affects the physical/engineering environment in the vessel and hence the performance of a microbial (e.g. E. coli) culture.

Later lectures will consider in more detail the response of the cells to features of the engineering environment such as hydrodynamic shear. Specific issues related to the culture of mammalian cells or the culture of stem cells for therapy will also be covered.