A Low-Cost, Open Source, Self-Contained Bacterial EVolutionary biorEactor (EVE)

Abstract

ABSTRACTEvolutionary forces shape bacterial population characteristics in a matter of days. Here, we present a framework that allows students and scientists to study bacterial evolution of antibiotic resistance over a few days. This approach is in line with recent efforts to study evolution of drug resistance in organisms at increasingly smaller time scales and in a high-throughput manner. One effective approach is through the use of customized bioreactors – devices that can continuously culture bacteria and monitor population growth in real time. These devices are often technically challenging and expensive to implement for scientists, let alone students or teachers who seek an innovative and intuitive way of studying evolution. Here, we present a continuous bacterial culture device that can be easily and inexpensively constructed, flexibly configured for various evolution experiments, and used in both academic and educational environments. As this EVolutionary biorEactor (EVE) is capable of replicating the functionality of many prominent and expensive bioreactors on the market today, we hope the greater accessibility of EVE will allow interested high school and college students to study biological concepts such as population dynamics and evolution using innovative technology. Within the educational environment, we also hope to foster interaction and interest between the engineering and biological fields by allowing teachers and students to build their own systems and share experimental designs and results based on our proposed open framework.