Cell factory
Cheese, beer, penicillin, insulin, and bread – living organisms such as yeast, fungi, and bacteria are essential to these products. These organisms are difficult to control, and people have long struggled with sour beer and foreign substances.
Today, we can control living organisms in a fermentor, where cells are cultivated to produce a desired substance. Our ability to manage fermentation is the result of a long development, during which both chemical and biological disciplines underwent major transformations.
In the 19th century, chemists discovered that chemical reactions occur in living organisms and that a chemical process unfolds in the same way inside a body as it does in the laboratory. A connection between biology and chemistry was established.
What is yeast?
In scientific circles, there was debate about whether yeast consisted of living organisms or was merely chemistry, while researchers like Louis Pasteur worked to improve both health and industrial products. Scientists argued based on results from experiments in the modern laboratories that emerged at universities and companies in the second half of the 19th century.
In Denmark, the Carlsberg Laboratory is a well-known example. The work done in the lab produced results people could trust. Overall, this development led to a new scientific discipline – biochemistry. On a more practical level, new knowledge emerged about how to control fermentation.
Inside the fermentor
Fermentation became a widely used method across chemistry, biotech, and life sciences. In the fermentor, the goal is to create ideal conditions for cells. The processes are the same in small laboratory models and in large industrial-scale tanks.
With the fermentor, we can gain knowledge by studying cell growth and the uptake or release of substances. But we can also produce substances like insulin, which are not naturally formed, by using genetically modified organisms. The fermentor is designed to allow measurement of pH, temperature, and CO₂ gas, as well as sampling during the process. Based on this information, the process can be controlled to maximize the yield.
