CELL-GROWTH PATTERNS IN IMMOBILIZATION MATRICES

Within an immobilized cell matrix, mass transfer limitations on substr ate delivery or product removal can often lead to a wide range of loca l chemical environments. As immobilized living cell populations active ly grow and adapt to their surroundings, these mass transfer effects o ften lead to strong, time-dependent spatial variations in substrate co ncentration and biomass densities and growth rates. This review focuse s on the methods that have been devised, both experimentally and theor etically, to study the nonuniform growth patterns that arise in the ma ss transfer limited environment of an immobilization matrix, with part icular attention being paid to cell growth in polysaccharide gels.