title: Cell growth patterns in immobilization matrices.
abstract: Within an immobilized cell matrix, mass transfer limitations on substrate delivery or product removal can often lead to a wide range of local chemical environments. As immobilized living cell populations actively grow and adapt to their surroundings, these mass transfer effects often lead to strong, time-dependent spatial variations in substrate concentration and biomass densities and growth rates. This review focuses on the methods that have been devised, both experimentally and theoretically, to study the non-uniform growth patterns that arise in the mass transfer limited environment of an immobilization matrix, with particular attention being paid to cell growth in polysaccharide gels.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Dublin City University, Ireland.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Malone