News

Our first priority is to protect the health and well-being of our employees, along with our customers, and to do our part to contain the virus. We follow global developments attentively, while implementing WHO recommendations consistently and with the utmost care.

You can access our products and place your requests as usual at www.infors-ht.com. Even in these challenging times, we are happy to provide you with advice and solution-oriented support. Your contact person can be reached by e-mail or telephone at the usual times. You can also contact us via LinkedIn and Facebook.

Take care and support each other. We firmly believe that we will get through the situation together.

Instead of the Core, Plan & Control as well as User Management & Reporting packages, there are three licenses which can now be selected:

• Basic: Essential monitoring and reporting features for shaker and bioreactor experiments, perfect for smaller budgets.
  
  
• Standard: Workflow-oriented planning tools including comprehensive features for bioprocess automation, control, monitoring and reporting.
• Premium: Full version to meet the technical requirements of FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11.

For customers, the new license structure offers an easier selection of the appropriate configuration and a simpler overview of the features.

A new driver structure simplifies the connection of various third-party devices. Via a clearly arranged user interface, the user can define parameters which are monitored and controlled via eve^®. The new drivers are available for OPC, Modbus and all Applikon bioreactors.

Learn more about eve^® and its features.

In this way, INFORS HT is responding to the sustained high demand for its products. With the new production line, INFORS HT is doubling its capacities, which results in shorter delivery times. In Bottmingen, bioreactors and incubation shakers will be produced primarily for markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America. The USA and Canada are supplied by an additional production site of the U.S. branch which was also expanded in 2017.

Brunsli

Ingredients:

• 200 g sugar
• 250 g ground almonds
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 pinch of cinnamon
• 100 g melted swiss chocolate
• 2 egg white

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C and measure out all the ingredients.

2. Mix sugar, almonds, flour, cinnamon and melted chocolate in a bowl. Fold in the egg white and stir until all the ingredients are combined, do not knead. Chill for 1 hour.

3. Sprinkle sugar on to a clean surface and roll out the dough until it is approximately 1 cm thick. Cut out the Brunsli with a shape cutter and let them dry overnight at room temperature.

4. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 4-6 minutes. Let the Brunsli cool down on the tray. Store in an airtight container

5. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

As in the previous models, INFORS HT has implemented a modern design with clear lines. However, the new version of the pilot bioreactor has far much more to offer: "Besides the modern look with ergonomically arranged pumps and a tilting touch screen, we particularly focused on a consistently workflow-oriented user interface," explains Dr. Dirk Hebel, Lead Product Manager Bioreactors, INFORS HT.

The result is a real eye-catcher. Controlling the new Techfors pilot bioreactor using the touch screen user interface is child's play. The software is the same as that used in the smaller bioreactors. The advantage of this is that the user can get started right away – without the need for any familiarization. The interface and procedures are already familiar from the smaller bench-top and parallel bioreactors. The eve^® bioprocess software is used not only to control, monitor, and analyze complex bioprocesses but also to document them in conformity with GMP.

The proven advantages of the Techfors are also offered by the new version: each pilot bioreactor is produced precisely according to the customer's requirements. Thanks to the modular design, sensors or analysis devices can be retrofitted at any time later on. The INFORS HT team is available as required to provide support during qualification and validation.

The benefits at a glance:

• New INFORS HT design to suit the aesthetics of modern laboratories
• Uniform operation across devices for easy integration
• An Ethernet interface for reliable connection to eve^®

We’ve saved the best news until last: The new Minitron will be ready for delivery from September 2019. The previous beige version is now discontinued. Effective immediately, all forthcoming orders will be produced and shipped as the new version.

The latest eve^® version, Q2 2019, makes it even easier to integrate devices and software from third-party manufacturers into the platform. The new email alarm goes beyond the previous control and monitoring via the browser. It notifies the user as soon as an alarm occurs in a specific batch. The parameters for this alarm, such as temperature deviations or network problems, can be specified in advance for each batch. Here is an overview of the most important features of the new eve® version: 

• New automatic email alarm system: eve^® sends you emails in the case of batch alarms
• Increased compatibility and flexibility with 3rd party devices and software: New REST API and new user interface for drivers to easily and quickly integrate additional devices and software to eve^® 
• The LIS (Liquid Injection System) shake flask feed pumps from aquila biolabs is now supported by eve^®

Additional features and optimizations:

• Improved overall performance when opening batches
• Automatic notification when a new version becomes available
• New SI units for parameters are available
• Designation of user-specified functions in the batch strategy
• Parameters can be renamed to allow adoption of the name(s) used by the connected device
• Customizable OPC (DA, XML DA and UA) drivers with new user interface
• Customizable Modbus (RTU and TCP) driver with new user interface
• Customizable Applikon drivers with new user interface

The new version is available for free download to users with a valid Support & Assurance license.

A manual offline biomass measurement is time-consuming, allows only a limited understanding of the bioprocess, and entails a higher rate of error. Because sensors are used, there is no need for manual samples for biomass measurement. aquila biolabs goes one step further and it offers a sensor – the CGQ BioR – which does not even need to be introduced into the culture medium. Instead, the sensor is mounted on the outer wall of the culture vessel and measures the biomass optically using scattered light measurements. In this way, detailed microbial growth kinetics are recorded in real time. At the same time, autoclaving and installation are eliminated beforehand – the sensor can be mounted at any time. The biomass data provided by the CGQ BioR can be used for process control, for example, in the growth-curve-based induction of protein production or to generate feeding profiles. If the data are transferred into eve®, the growth kinetics can be clearly documented and compared with earlier batches. The event-based control is thus just as easy as complex feeding profiles based on the biomass development. In addition, eve® provides a soft sensor for correlating the measured values with, for example, OD or bio dry mass. The CGQ BioR can be directly integrated into INFORS HT bioreactors. The measured values are displayed directly on their touch screens. Alternatively the sensor is available as a stand-alone version for the devices from third-party suppliers.

The Minifors 2 is a preconfigured complete package with which users can quickly start their cell culture processes without time-consuming installation. The culture vessel, which is available in three sizes, is fully equipped with a digital pH sensor and optical pO2 sensor, temperature sensor, exhaust gas cooler, (anti-)foam sensor, sparger, sampling system and up to three additional freely available ports. The culture vessel is operated on a compact base unit with four freely configurable pumps and a touch screen as the operating unit. The cell culture version additionally offers five fully automatic gas lines and can additionally control external pumps via two analogue inputs and outputs. In addition, the bioreactor can be optionally expanded by biomass sensors, exhaust gas analysis and an external scale for gravimetric feeding. With these additional options and the connection to the eve® platform software, bioprocesses can be understood even more easily and optimized further. Thanks to the integrated and intuitive touch screen software, the Minifors 2 remains easy to operate, despite the comprehensive features. The intuitive software provides multilingual step-by-step guidance through all functions, such as calibration of the sensors. If needed, brief texts with information on components and applications can be displayed. “Especially for beginners who need a ready-to-use and easy-to-handle bioreactor for their cell culture applications, we consider the Minifors 2 for cell cultures to be an interesting alternative to single-use bioreactors,” says Daniel Egger, marketing director at INFORS HT.  

The new Multitron offers researchers even better conditions for cultivating microorganisms, cell cultures and phototropic organisms. The new temperature-control concept allows users to achieve optimum, gradient-free temperature uniformity, guaranteeing comparable growth conditions across all batches. The hygienic design of the new Multitron has been improved as well, with rounded interior corners for a chamber that has fewer components, making it far easier to clean. And its new UV decontamination feature, its condensate-free, direct-steam humidification, and its antibacterial coating for the housing mean that the Multitron meets the stringent requirements of cell-culture applications.

The new Multitron also satisfies the increasing efficiency demands of the biotech industry. As was the case with its predecessor, the capacity-to-footprint ratio of this incubation shaker is unlike any other: by using a three-tier stacked configuration, researchers can cultivate over 50 liters and/or 23,000 batches in parallel—even though the base is only 1 m wide. The top unit remains at a comfortable working height of 1.40 m, while the new door mechanism and quick, automated start-stop feature keep interruptions in the cultivation process to a minimum.

“By combining traditional advantages with new features, the new Multitron is a response to trends and to new demands in research and development—developments that include increasing digitalization. Starting now, for example, the Multitron comes with an Ethernet interface that can be used for connecting to simple SCADA software such as eve^®,” explains Dr. Dirk Hebel, bioprocess equipment product manager for INFORS HT. Customers can place their orders for the new Multitron with any INFORS HT affiliate or distributor beginning January 18.