SBI Insights - Scientific Bioprocessing

People Behind sbi - One thing about shake flasks

Written by Admin | Mar 26, 2026 11:52:16 AM

Shake flasks are awesome! That is the overall sentiment at sbi.

Also, there's nothing that portrays the idea of science and scientists quite as well as shake flasks - even Hollywood knows that (as Sayantan Dutta points out). Here's our colleagues take on what they want you to know about working with shake flasks. 

Meet:

  • Liesa Pötschke, Senior Research Scientist
  • Bernd Leuchtle, Senior Application Scientist
  • Louisa Kauth, Head of Application Science
  • Sayantan Dutta, Head of Production

 

... and listen to their associations and fun facts on shake flasks!

 

 

Liesa Pötschke, Senior Research Scientist: 

Oh, shake flask can be awesome. They can be a very reliable tool if you treat them well, if you characterize the bioprocess well and use them as they are intended. Not just grow a culture but also understand everything around it. Because many people focus on what's happening with the biology inside the flask. Of course that's important, but the bioprocess around it, the conditions are equally important, I would say.

 

Bernd Leuchtle, Senior Application Scientist: 

Shake flasks are awesome. Don't overfill them. Use them as often as you can. Did I mention shake flasks are awesome?

 

Louisa Kauth, Head of Application Science:

I think, I mean shake flasks are super versatile and you can use them in very many ways. I would say people should use them more often, because if you have the right bioprocess conditions and do a good bioprocess in your shake flask, it's an easy tool, it's super cost effective and you can probably do a lot of the steps like strain optimization, screening and all this kind of things in an easy way without a lot of hands-on time and without the need to spend super much money for just one experiment. 

 

Sayantan Dutta, Head of Production:

Recently I learned that California, the state of California in the US orders a large quantity of glass flasks. And that is not because of the institutions and the laboratories in the state, it's because of Hollywood. Because nothing shouts out  "scientist" rather than a person wearing a lab coat and holding a shake flask or some kind of a flask in their hands.

 

 

Who is sbi?

Our company is shaped by its people.

Many different roles and perspectives contribute to how we work every day.

In this interview series, we give you a glimpse behind the scenes and the opportunity to get to know some of the people who help build sbi. We sat down with colleagues from different departments across the company and asked them a few simple questions about their work, their routines, and what they enjoy most about their roles.

What we got are their short, honest answers and real perspectives. Each blog post focuses on one question (accompanied by video) to give you that look behind the scenes of sbi.