Mix gases to create and control hypoxic environments

Product catalog summary

Project Overview: The project, in collaboration with the University of Maryland Baltimore, aims to grow strictly anaerobic microbes under microaerobic conditions. The head of project management is C. S. Raman, and MCQ Instruments plays a crucial role in creating and controlling specific hypoxic environments.

University Background: The University of Maryland, Baltimore, established in 1807, is a public health, law, and human services university. It houses the University of Maryland BioPark, a significant biotechnology cluster that supports the commercialization of new drugs, treatments, and devices.

Project Details: The project focuses on understanding how microbes harvest energy for long-term survival in their native niches, particularly under extreme energy stress. Recent studies have shown that oxygen penetrates deep-sea sediments, challenging the notion of anaerobiosis in the biosphere. The project aims to uncover energy conservation mechanisms in microbes, especially in methanogens and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), which have been found to thrive in oxic environments.

Technological Contributions: MCQ Instruments provides Gas Blenders that reduce gas consumption by 30% and facilitate easier setup management of hardware and software. The GB100 Series allows precise control of flow rates from 0.1 ml/min to 500 ml/min. The Software PRO Version enables automation of experiments, enhancing flow stability even at lower flow ranges.

Scientific Insights: The project challenges the classical view that SRB are obligate anaerobes, as they have been found to mediate O2 respiration and couple it to ATP production. The ability of these organisms to grow aerobically with O2 as the terminal electron acceptor was demonstrated in recent studies. The project seeks to establish laboratory conditions for culturing obligately anaerobic organisms in the presence of 0.01 - 1% O2.

Catalog excerpts

Mix gases to create and control hypoxic environments-1

University of Maryland Baltimore 0 ANAEROBIC MICROBES 0 MICRO-FLOW 0 HYPOXIC ATMOSPHERE A SOLID BUSINESS CASE IN COLLABORATION WITH THE “UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE “ TARGET OF THE PROJECT: Growing Strictly Anaerobic Microbes Under Microaerobic Conditions DEPARTMENT: University of Maryland Baltimore HEAD OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT: C. S. Raman ROLE OF MCQ INSTRUMENTS: To create and control, specific hypoxic environments. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HEAD OF THE PROJECT Opened in 1807, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is Maryland's public health, law, and human services university, dedicated to excellence in education, research, clinical care, and public service. The University of Maryland BioPark, Baltimore's biggest biotechnology cluster, fuels the commercialization of new drugs, treatments, and devices, giving 1,000 scientists and entrepreneurs the space to create and collaborate.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE APPLICATION AND THE TARGET Very little is known about how microbes harvest energy for long term survival in their native niches. Laboratory-based assessments of extreme energy stress in organisms, such as methane producing Archaea, are unimpressive when compared to deep-sea sediment microbes, which support cellular respiration rates of 1 e¯ cell-1 sec-1. Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that oxygen (O2) penetrates up to 75 m below the sea oor, suggesting that achieving anaerobiosis in the biosphere is rather diﬃcult. That is, even the “strict” anaerobes cannot escape...

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