Comparison of Methodology of Cell Density Determination

Abstract

Acme Brewing Company is interested in determining the most accurate way to measure the density of yeast cells in their manufacturing processes.  Currently, manual cell counts with a hemocytometer are the standard operating procedure; however, it requires a great deal of man hours to accurately complete.  The other alternatives are spectrometric approaches such as OD600 and OD660, but they come with their own limitations.  This study finds that solutions with low turbidity (≤ 1.6e6 cell count) are below the detection limit of spectrometric approaches, while high turbidity (≥ 2e6 cell count) solutions are above the detection maximum of manual cell counts with a hemocytometer.