PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Silla H. Hansen AU - Tobias Kabbeck AU - Carsten P. Radtke AU - Susanne Krause AU - Eva Krolitzki AU - Theo Peschke AU - Jannis Gasmi AU - Kersten S. Rabe AU - Michael Wagner AU - Harald Horn AU - Jürgen Hubbuch AU - Johannes Gescher AU - Christof M. Niemeyer TI - Machine-assisted cultivation and analysis of biofilms AID - 10.1101/210583 DP - 2017 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 210583 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/10/28/210583.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/10/28/210583.full AB - Biofilms are the natural form of life of the majority of microorganisms. These multispecies consortia are intensively studied not only for their effects on health and environment but also because they have an enormous potential as tools for biotechnological processes. Further exploration and exploitation of these complex systems will benefit from technical solutions that enable integrated, machine-assisted cultivation and analysis. We here introduce a microfluidic platform, where readily available microfluidic chips are connected by automated liquid handling with analysis instrumentation, such as fluorescence detection, microscopy, chromatography and optical coherence tomography. The system is operable under oxic and anoxic conditions, allowing for different gases as feeding sources and offers high spatiotemporal resolution in the analysis of metabolites and biofilm composition. We demonstrate the platform’s performance by monitoring the self-organized separation of mixed cultures along autonomously created gradients, the productivity of biofilms along the microfluidic channel and the enrichment of microbial nanoorganisms.