Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of Microbioreactor for Advancing Biological, Environmental, and Biomanufacturing Research

An award is being made to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to enable the acquisition of the BioLector XTM microbioreactor system. This system can grow and monitor up to 48 tiny microbial cultures at the same time. It measures important factors like how much the microbes are growing, how much oxygen is in the mix, the pH level, and how the cells are responding, all without needing to stop the process. What makes this system special is that it can copy the conditions used in large-scale industrial fermentation—like stirring, air flow, and how nutrients are delivered—but at a very small scale. This helps researchers test and improve processes using less material. It also collects detailed, continuous data that older lab methods, like shake flasks or small bioreactors, can’t provide. This new equipment will expand research in the region and be shared by students, teachers, and researchers at local universities, Tribal colleges, and schools focused on undergraduate education. It will also support science education and training through classes, research projects, workshops, and programs for younger students and interns. The BioLector XTM will accelerate scientific discovery and enable data-driven modeling across multiple research domains in microbiology, biochemical engineering, systems biology, environmental biotechnology, agriculture, and synthetic biology. The project will empower researchers to rapidly optimize microbial processes used in producing sustainable biopolymers, high-value enzymes, therapeutic proteins, and next-generation biofuels. It will also facilitate the development of microbial fertilizers to reduce dependence on synthetic chemicals and support the discovery of microbes for environmental cleanup (bioremediation). Researchers will use the system to test hypotheses, accelerate design-build-test cycles, and uncover new insights into microbial metabolism. BioLector XTM’s capacity to simulate industrial fermentation at a miniature scale, while generating reproducible, high-quality data, makes it a critical tool for advancing scientific understanding and enabling translational research that benefits both the economy and society. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.