ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,297,423, issued on May 13.
"Contamination control when growing yeasts" was invented by Edward Brian Hamrick (Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for contamination control when growing yeasts is provided. Bacterial contamination is controlled by using urea as the primary nitrogen source while simultaneously limiting the amount of nickel available to contaminating bacteria. Bacteria require nickel as a cofactor for urease enzymes in order to use urea for growth while yeasts do not require nickel as a cofactor for any enzymes. Nickel is limited by using titanium in plate heat exchangers instead of stainless steel...