Overview

Monitor biomass and growth rates in your cultivation vessels with high resolution using the CGQ. Optical biomass measurements are based on scattered light detection without the use of integrated sensors. Simply install the sensor plate under the shake flask and monitor the biomass through the vessel wall. Follow the growth of your cultures in real time to gain actionable insights into your strain’s growth behavior.

  • Save time with automated, online, non-invasive biomass monitoring in up to 64 flasks in parallel
  • Eliminate the risk of contamination or need to interrupt your cultivation
  • Monitor additional parameters: local temperature and shaking speed for every flask
  • Gain actionable insights with high resolution growth curves
  • Powerful software for experiment control and advanced data analytics

What Our Customers Are Saying

"By using the Cell Growth Quantifier (CGQ), we were able to get growth data in an unmatched frequency without manual sampling. "

-Prof. Dr. ir. Eveline Peeters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
VUB

How it Works

The CGQ’s technique for noninvasive cell density monitoring is based on the principle of light scattering.

Using an array of LEDs and photodiodes, the CGQ sensor emits light into the vessel and measures the amount of light that is scattered back. The more cells that are in the flask, the more light is scattered back. This backscatter signal can be correlated with offline cell density data, such as OD600 or cell dry weight (CDW).

CGQ Sensing
Architecture

CGQ Sensing Architecture
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The sensor plate of the CGQ contains an LED light source and a photodiode detector. The CGQ’s innovative measuring method treats the signal fluctuations from the moving bulk liquid due to shaking as a valuable information source rather than noise.

Biomass Monitoring by Backscattered Light

Biomass Monitoring by Backscattered Light
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Light is emitted from the LED into the culture medium. While most photons go straight through the broth, some are scattered by the cells and return to the photodiode, which measures the scattered light intensity. The higher the cell density, the more light is scattered back to the photodiode.

Hardware & Software Components

CGQ Sensor

CGQ Sensor
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Each sensor plate is positioned under the cultivation vessel and measures the biomass non-invasively through the vessel wall. If needed, each shake flask is darkened with a cover to ensure precise measurements.

Base Station

Base Station
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Several sensor plates can be connected to a single base station. The base station bundles the data from all monitored flasks and sends it to the software.

CGQuant Software

CGQuant Software
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The software then analyzes the biomass signals and presents it as a real-time growth curve. Datasets can be easily exported.

Specifications

Flask

Compatible Laboratory Infrastructure

The CGQ is compatible with a variety of vessel types. An available adapter system provides maximum flexibility, allowing the same sensor plate to be used with different shake flask sizes.

  • Any shake flask size ranging from 100mL to 5000mL

  • Flasks with or without baffles

  • Glass and single-use flasks

  • Spring clip and sticky plate mounts

Bacteria

  • Escherichia coli

  • Corynebacterium glutamicum

  • Bacillus subtilis

  • Pseudomonas putida

  • Pseudomonas taiwanensis

  • Gluconobacter oxydans

  • Lactobacillus plantarum

  • Vibrio natriegens

  • Vibrio cholerae

  • Staphylococcus aureus

  • Klebsiella pneumoniae

  • Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae

  • Chromobacterium violaceum

  • Blautia producta

  • Hungtatella hathewayi

  • Prevotella copri

Yeast

  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae

  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe

  • Pichia pastoris

  • Yarrowia lipolytica

  • Kluyveromyces lactis

  • Hansenula polymorpha

  • Ustilago maydis

Filamentous organisms

  • Aspergillus fumigatus

  • Aspergillus nidulans

  • Aspergillus niger

  • Streptomyces acidiscabies

  • Streptomyces venezuelae

  • Trichoderma reesei

Archaea

  • Haloferax volcanii

  • Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

Anaerobic organisms

  • Acetobacterium woodii

  • Clostridium aectobutylicum

  • Clostridium ljungdahlii

  • Clostridium difficile

Phototrophic organisms

  • Chlorella vulgaris

  • Scenedesmus obliquus

  • Synechococcus elongatus

  • Nicotiana tabacum BY-2 (plant cells)

Resources

Compatibility
Flask

Compatible Laboratory Infrastructure

The CGQ is compatible with a variety of vessel types. An available adapter system provides maximum flexibility, allowing the same sensor plate to be used with different shake flask sizes.

  • Any shake flask size ranging from 100mL to 5000mL

  • Flasks with or without baffles

  • Glass and single-use flasks

  • Spring clip and sticky plate mounts

Organisms

Bacteria

  • Escherichia coli

  • Corynebacterium glutamicum

  • Bacillus subtilis

  • Pseudomonas putida

  • Pseudomonas taiwanensis

  • Gluconobacter oxydans

  • Lactobacillus plantarum

  • Vibrio natriegens

  • Vibrio cholerae

  • Staphylococcus aureus

  • Klebsiella pneumoniae

  • Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae

  • Chromobacterium violaceum

  • Blautia producta

  • Hungtatella hathewayi

  • Prevotella copri

Yeast

  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae

  • Schizosaccharomyces pombe

  • Pichia pastoris

  • Yarrowia lipolytica

  • Kluyveromyces lactis

  • Hansenula polymorpha

  • Ustilago maydis

Filamentous organisms

  • Aspergillus fumigatus

  • Aspergillus nidulans

  • Aspergillus niger

  • Streptomyces acidiscabies

  • Streptomyces venezuelae

  • Trichoderma reesei

Archaea

  • Haloferax volcanii

  • Sulfolobus acidocaldarius

Anaerobic organisms

  • Acetobacterium woodii

  • Clostridium aectobutylicum

  • Clostridium ljungdahlii

  • Clostridium difficile

Phototrophic organisms

  • Chlorella vulgaris

  • Scenedesmus obliquus

  • Synechococcus elongatus

  • Nicotiana tabacum BY-2 (plant cells)

Resources

Resources

From Estimation To High-Resolution Growth Curves

Cell Growth Quantifier (CGQ)
Success Growth Graph

Customer Success Stories

Cell Growth Quantifier (CGQ)
"Our group has been using the Cell Growth Quantifier (CGQ) for roughly five years by now and even though we often use the device for screenings, it also is the perfect tool for toxicity tests.”

-Dr. Julia Hitschler (University of Frankfurt)
Goethe University Frankfurt
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Cell Growth Quantifier (CGQ)
"The backscatter data we gathered here with the CGQ system clearly shows a match with another growth characterisation parameter, in this case with the oxygen transfer rate (OTR)."

-Frédéric Lapierre (HS München)
HM
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