H.E.L Group

02/09/2026

Your gut microbiome changes by the hour. So why do most studies measure it once?

At the University of Chicago, the Chang and DeLeon laboratories take a different approach: continuous-culture bioreactors that keep fecal-derived microbial communities alive and evolving for weeks — so they can add a nutrient and actually watch the ecosystem respond.

In our latest webinar, their team walks through the models they use, a live demo of the H.E.L BioXplorer running in their lab, and what happened when they dosed communities with inulin and palmitic acid.

Featuring Dr Eugene Chang, Dr Landon DeLeon, Dr Candace Cham, Jason Koval and Karen Lolans, with a live Q&A.

▶️ Watch on demand: https://youtu.be/IdHCjRXITWw

01/09/2026

How do you find the perfect synthesis conditions when every experiment needs high-pressure NO gas — and your biomaterial scaffold degrades if you get it wrong?

At UNC Chapel Hill, the Schoenfisch Laboratory answers that with parallel pressure chemistry: eight independently controlled reactors screening pressure, base and reaction time simultaneously on the H.E.L ChemSCAN.

Dr Maggie Purvis walks through the full story in our latest webinar — from optimizing NO-releasing hyaluronic acid and cyclodextrin scaffolds to in vivo anti-melanoma results, plus a tour of the lab where it all runs.

▶️ Watch on demand: https://youtu.be/9-sbMOQlwfo

Can you maximise nitric oxide loading without destroying the scaffo...

01/09/2026

Bioreactors: Mixing Pressure with Stirring

Oxygen transfer rate (OTR) is a critical limitation in aerobic fermentations, directly impacting cell growth, productivity and bioprocess efficiency.

Conventionally, oxygen transfer is limited by the performance of the agitator – both stirring speed and design – normally expressed in terms of kLa.

Though not widely used in most bio-applications, the kLa ceiling can be overcome by operating the reactor at elevated pressure. This immediately increases the oxygen transfer rate and therefore gas solubility in the fermentation broth.

This is demonstrated below, where oxygen flux is plotted as a function of pressure, going up to 3 bar at a fixed stirrer speed.

The relationship between pressure and oxygen transfer rate shown above can be easily demonstrated using H.E.L’s BioXplorer 400P, a high-pressure parallel bioreactor system.

The system is fitted with all the conventional bioreactor probes, plus gas and liquid dosing pumps, combined with the ability to operate at pressures of up to 10 bar.

18/08/2026

Seven days of fermentation. Minimal manual intervention. What does the lab of the future look like?

Discover how TU Berlin's KIWI-biolab built a fully automated bioprocess platform around the H.E.L BioXplorer 100 — linking robotic sampling, automated analytics and continuous fermentation.

And that's only part of it.

The new FREE Biotechnology Industry Focus eBook, published by AZoNetwork, brings together 9 articles, including 3 technical H.E.L case studies covering automated bioprocessing, high-density E. coli cultivation and pressure-enhanced oxygen transfer.

From fermentation and automation to CRISPR, nanoplatforms and biomaterials, it's packed with research worth reading.

Download your free copy → https://helgroup.com/biotechnology-ebook/

09/08/2026

Hydrogenation With CATS Eyes– When Size Matters

Reaction screening is all about testing lots of samples, quickly and cheaply – test as many samples as possible. This becomes even more important when hazardous chemicals, like hydrogen, and high pressure are involved, typical of hydrogenation. The combination of multiple phases (gas, liquid and solids) adds to the complexity and the need for innovative screening solutions.
The least expensive option is the CAT shown below – where catalyst and liquid reagents are added to standard glass vials that are placed in a metal unit with 24 holes. This is then pressurized with hydrogen, heated, and stirred on a hot plate for the necessary length of time to complete the reaction.

Using the same principle, the CAT 7 allows larger samples to be tested, though only 7 in total.
The CAT18 adds a level of sophistication by replacing open vials with small 2ml ones designed to be used with septa, with small holes in them which allow hydrogen to flow through under pressure. At the end of the test, the vials can be used with analytical devices.

In fact, the CAT 18 and 24 units can also be fully automated because they fit into HEL’s Polyblock, where, for example, 4 x CAT 24 units have been tested. In fact, the conditions of the 4 CAT units can be totally different.

16/07/2026

Thermal reaction hazards are nearly always assumed to initiate at temperatures above ambient; indeed, calorimeters for measuring the hazard onset temperature don’t even exist.
For example, the method for calibrating such devices begins at temperatures above room temperature, assuming that lower temperatures are of no interest.

In order to test chemical stability below room temperature, it is necessary to cool the calorimeter internals – this will be the new ambient temperature, and chemical stability can be tested above that. With this temperature stable, the heat-loss (or, in this case, heat gain) calibration can be performed, allowing chemical testing to begin below ambient temperature.

In Figure 1 (main image), the heat-wait-search test starts from a low temperature (-20 °C). At every 5 °C, the sample temperature is held constant to determine whether an exotherm can be detected (wait/search period). However, unlike standard calorimeters, the sample temperature (red) is higher than the calorimeter temperature (green). The period of constant temperature (the search period) is when the “onset” temperature of the exotherm is identified and corresponds to when the exotherm is generating enough heat to be detectable - in this case, it occurs at 20 °C.

Once the exotherm has been detected, the chemical reaction can be allowed to proceed and tracked (adiabatically) as the temperature gradually increases toward completion.

At a sample temperature of around 179 °C, the reactants are consumed, and the temperature flattens. In this test, another red line represents the sample pressure, which clearly increases as the exotherm accelerates.
Extending the working temperature range of an adiabatic calorimeter below ambient is not often needed but is crucial when the process runs at low temperature.
In Figure 2 (main image), the exotherm was observed to start at 20 °C, which would not be possible in a standard calorimeter, where the minimum detectable temperature is around 30 °C or higher.
Learn more about HEL solutions for and .

https://helgroup.com/products/process-safety/

14/07/2026

Crystallization Sounds Ultra Interesting

Crystallization is a multiphase process in which several constraints can limit the rate. Solubility, or bringing different reacting species together, is an important barrier. This makes it difficult to control the desired crystal form and size.

High-intensity ultrasound creates very localized mixing. This can improve control of the crystallization process.

The main effect of ultrasound is to promote nucleation through transient cavitation. This:

* provides a non-invasive way to control crystal size, size distribution, habit, polymorph, and purity
* can significantly reduce the metastable zone width (MSZW) and induction times

For this study, the ultrasound facility was integrated with a 1 L stirred reactor system, as shown in the image. The system was used to study the crystallization of adipic acid in isopropanol at around 150 g/litre.

The liquid is pumped through a circulating loop. It passes through the sonic cell before returning to the reactor.

The graph within the image shows the results produced through controlled agitation and temperature ramping.

The fall in turbidity marks the cloud point, where dissolution occurs. The latter rise marks the clear point where crystallization begins as the temperature falls.

Repeating the process at different concentrations allows the MSZW to be measured accurately. The effect of ultrasound can then be identified.

06/07/2026

Commercially important chemical reactions are carried out primarily at a fixed temperature. Since these reactions are also mostly exothermic (i.e., generate heat as the reaction proceeds), cooling is necessary to maintain a constant temperature. To design the temperature control system, the heat generation rate is required.
The SIMULAR system in the photograph above is an isothermal calorimeter (also called a reaction calorimeter) and provides precisely this information.

The heat release data allows much to be understood, for example:
- Cooling rate needed to keep the reaction under control
- Consequences (in terms of hazard) if cooling is inadequate
- The amount of dosed chemical accumulating in the reactor poses a potential runaway reaction risk.

Reaction calorimetry provides a quantitative understanding of the thermokinetics of the chemistry. This enables safety features to be designed and potential hazards to be minimized.
Isothermal calorimetry can also be extended to other applications, such as commercial batteries.

The rate of battery charging/discharging directly leads to heating, and the relationship needs to be quantified.

HEL’s iso-BTC is designed to do exactly this and determines how the heating and charge/discharge rates are related.
If cooling is inadequate, the battery temperature will rise, eventually leading to a runaway fire/explosion.
https://helgroup.com/products/calorimeters/simular/

01/07/2026

The solution to fast process development is normally multiple miniature reactors operating independently in parallel. Invariably, high-quality systems will operate from a single computer, with different control and experimental plans for each reactor, including monitoring multiple probes and displaying the data graphically in real time.

However, there are important applications where, for various reasons, miniaturization is not the answer and fast process development will require larger, maybe 1 liter or bigger, reactors operating independently in parallel.
The system in the video is exactly such a case, custom-built for a major pharmaceutical company.
Aside from automated feeds, control, and full monitoring, the system also includes the ability to take samples, which are prepared by a benchtop x-y-z robot and then injected into a GC.
Achieving this requires the ability to customize and experience in building custom solutions economically.
https://helgroup.com/products/chemical-synthesis/

23/06/2026

At HEL, our products exist because of the women who design, build, and test them—across engineering and electronics. But the picture is bigger than that. Our women in admin, finance, operations, sales, and marketing keep everything around that work running.

Engineering gets the spotlight today, and rightly so. Yet good engineering also depends on accuracy, clear communication, strong customer relationships, and the people who hold it all together.

So to every woman at HEL: thank you for the work you do, the standards you set, and the difference you make.