Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An apparatus, such as a fermentation chamber, for growing organisms such as bacteria or yeast that are used in the biotechnological production of substances such as pharmaceuticals, antibodies, or vaccines, or for the bioconversion of organic waste.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun an apparatus in which a suspension of microorganisms in a liquid are used to perform chemical reactions, as in synthesis of pharmaceutical agents or the conversion of harmful waste to less harmful substances. The reactor consists of a vessel to contain the suspension of microorganisms, plus a variety of attached devices used to control the reaction.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biochemistry A fermentation vat, containing microorganisms or biochemically active substances, used for waste recycling or for making drugs.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bio- +‎ reactor

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Examples

  • They are then placed in a 'bioreactor' - a piece of electrical equipment developed by NASA to mimic the effects of weightlessness.

    British scientists grow human liver in a laboratory Argent 2006

  • David Green's team at Harvard Biosciences in Holliston, Mass., traveled to Stockholm and placed the matrix and the solution of cells into a custom-made device called a bioreactor.

    Patient gets world's first artificial trachea 2011

  • The company has added a third bioreactor, which is expected to gain approval by year end.

    GENZ to Expand Production Capacity - Yahoo! Finance 2011

  • The bioreactor is a closed system, connected to a computer, so the cultivation conditions such as oxygen use, acidity and temperature can be tracked online, allowing much better monitoring of cell growth.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • Ethanol from Garbage and Old Tires - Tubes packed with bundles of white fibers are the core of a bioreactor, which is the heart of a new technology that

    unknown title 2009

  • Ethanol from Garbage and Old Tires - Tubes packed with bundles of white fibers are the core of a bioreactor, which is the heart of a new technology that

    unknown title 2009

  • Ethanol from Garbage and Old Tires - Tubes packed with bundles of white fibers are the core of a bioreactor, which is the heart of a new technology that

    unknown title 2009

  • In 1999, Duke researchers led by Laura Niklason, M.D., reported in the journal Science on experiments in which they grew pig arteries in a novel "bioreactor" system that mimics the fetal environment, and then successfully implanted these bioengineered arteries back into the pig.

    Boing Boing: June 1, 2003 - June 7, 2003 Archives 2003

  • Gene therapy that causes the bladder to act like a "bioreactor" to produce and secrete the anti-canc ...

    THE MEDICAL NEWS Editors 2010

  • This was done in a "bioreactor," a box where the inside and outside of the trachea were exposed only to their two separate environments.

    The Santa Barbara Independent stories < 2010

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