As tools at the forefront of innovation in medicine and biotechnology, bioreactors are increasingly taking centre stage in research facilities and industrial labs alike. From acting as the fermentation vessels that give us beer to enabling a greener, more sustainable way of treating wastewater, bioreactors have played a key role in ensuring the quality of modern life. Yet, the high cost and low flexibility of bioreactor designs can leave researchers struggling to conduct their desired experiments, ultimately putting the brakes on key research and innovation.

This was the case for Laurens Parret, a PhD student with the Chemical and Biochemical Reactor Engineering and Safety (CREaS) unit at KU Leuven, Belgium. Seeing as the lab's high-cost bioreactors didn't meet the requirements for his work on biological wastewater treatment, Laurens set out to devise his own, the BIO-SPEC system. In this episode, Laurens, together with Kenneth Simoens, Lab Manager at CREaS KU Leuven, gets technical about bioreactors and helps us understand why more and more researchers are embracing DIY solutions to accelerate innovation.

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