Using MyCodo to control a temporary immersion bioreactor?

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I recently learnt about “temporary immersion bioreactors”, which can be used for plant micro-propagation (i.e. tissue culture).

In traditional tissue culture, plants are grown in sealed containers, on top of a growth medium (e.g. agar)

In temporary immersion bioreactors, the idea is that you periodically flood your plantlets (tiny little clumps of multiplying plant cells) with the growing liquid, then let it drain out. Apparently it causes them to grow much faster, as the plants can absorb the nutrient solution through the entire epidermis, it increases gas exchange (e.g. adding CO2, and flushing out ethylene) and it avoids vitrification/hyperhydricity of the plants normally caused by high humidity (due to the drying out periods between each flooding).

Some useful articles/papers I found:

Anyway, a YouTuber (Plant Cell Technologies) made a nice video showing some experiments he did with one setup:

He’s also now selling his own mini “bioreactor” - it’s basically two mason jars, with a plastic piece joining them together:

The idea is that you put your plants in one jar, and your liquid in the other, then flip the jars 180 degrees, then back again once a day =).

There’s larger commercial systems as well:

The Setis in particular looks quite slick - they have a price-list for some of the parts here. The vessels aren’t too bad - but once you add on the control system, air handling systems (compressor, air dryer, storage tank), lighting/racks etc., and it because quite expensive - definitely out of the reach of home hobbyist etc.

I bought a couple of the Setis bioreactor containers, just to try out - however, I didn’t get their controller unit. It seems more designed for actual large-scale setups anyway:

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So my questions is - how would I go about using MyCodo to control something like this?

I guess I could use it to control the lighting (i.e. setting the photoperiod), and then of course, the actual air pumps themselves (i.e. on a timer, to periodically flood the growing chamber). In terms of monitoring, however, I’m not really sure what you can do?

The containers are meant to be sterile, and you can’t really get any probes into there, AFAIK. And I suppose the only way to monitor really is via external cameras (e.g. webcams). So I guess it would be good for the timelapse?

What do people think? Any suggestions for how to set it up, as an experiment?

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You’re correct that the regulation aspect would be very simple, with just periodic timers for lights and air pumps.

I also wouldn’t advise putting any probes in the containers, unless absolutely necessary, since that would increase the likelihood of contamination.

For monitoring, you could use non-contact fluid level sensors, that can be mounted on the outside of the plastic container, to detect if fluid levels need to be replenished. However I’m not sure if this is necessary, since it’s a sealed environment, and fluid level change should be minimal and easier to anticipate (than an open system).

I’ve worked with micropropagrated plantlets and understand how sensitive they are. This seems like a good system that can improve survivorship/health over the use of agar growth media.