Using microfluidics, we replace traditional growth devices, such as Petri dishes or microtiter plates, with 1nl to 1pl droplets of culture medium. Stable for several weeks, they act like microscopic culture vessels. Thanks to patented technologies, Biomillennia can cultivate and undertake functional assays on the droplets: mixing, adding reagents, merging, incubating, screening and much more. The difference is the throughput. With traditional lab techniques, it would take 120 days to generate ten million microtiter plates. Biomillenia generates this number of microtiter plates, and screens them, one by one, in less than three hours.
Our platform integrates culturomics and supports multiple growth conditions (aerobic, anaerobic or microaerophilic), incubation temperatures or use of up to 60 different types of cell culture medium. The synergy of state-of-the-art culturomics and microfluidics enables Biomillenia to cultivate previously “unculturable” microbes. Droplets create ideal conditions for growth, under which slower-growing or fastidious microbes can thrive. Our data show that droplets capture 80% of the original diversity of a microbiota sample, compared to 20% for microtiter plates.
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