ABSTRACT
The current surge in consumer demand for “natural” food product additives and discoveries of unique medicinal phytochemicals, have generated new research toward economical production and extraction, including renewed interest in highly controlled in vitro plant cell cultivation for product recovery. Bioreactor control set points for a batch mode of operation ensure that the reactor environmental variables stay within tolerable, predetermined ranges for biological development. In a typical plant cell culture, there will be differences due to the degree of aggregation in cell clumps. Bioprocesses geared to harvesting valuable products from cell cultures typically involve multiple phases. The knowledge base can be used to develop a control strategy or a “blueprint” of the process. Visual imaging of bioprocesses is an age-old process. The goals of prompt, responsive culture regulation based on cell status are attainable via direct adaptation of machine vision for secondary metabolite accumulation, and coupling of image analysis information to other facets of an automated program.
