Removing nonviable cells from a cell suspension is crucial in biotechnology and biomanufacturing. Label-free microfluidic cell separation devices based on dielectrophoresis, acoustophoresis, and ...deterministic lateral displacement are used to remove nonviable cells. However, their volumetric throughputs and test cell concentrations are generally too low to be useful in typical bioreactors in biomanufacturing. In this study, we demonstrate the efficient removal of small (<10 μm) nonviable cells from bioreactors while maintaining viable cells using inertial microfluidic cell sorting devices and characterize their performance. Despite the size overlap between viable and nonviable cell populations, the devices demonstrated 3.5-28.0% dead cell removal efficiency with 88.3-83.6% removal purity as well as 97.8-99.8% live cell retention efficiency at 4 million cells per mL with 80% viability. Cascaded and parallel configurations increased the cell concentration capacity (10 million cells per mL) and volumetric throughput (6-8 mL min-1). The system can be used for the removal of small nonviable cells from a cell suspension during continuous perfusion cell culture operations.
We demonstrate a new micro/nanofluidic system for continuous and automatic monitoring of protein product size and quantity directly from the culture supernatant during a high-cell-concentration CHO ...cell perfusion culture. A microfluidic device enables clog-free cell retention for a bench-scale (350 mL) perfusion bioreactor that continuously produces the culture supernatant containing monoclonal antibodies (IgG1). A nanofluidic device directly monitors the protein size and quantity in the culture supernatant. The continuous-flow and fully automated operation of this nanofluidic protein analytics reduces design complexity and offers more detailed information on protein products than offline and batch-mode conventional analytics. Moreover, chemical and mechanical robustness of the nanofluidic device enables continuous monitoring for several days to a week. This continuous and online protein quality monitoring could be deployed at different steps and scales of biomanufacturing to improve product quality and manufacturing efficiency.
Continuous production of biologics, a growing trend in the biopharmaceutical industry, requires a reliable and efficient cell retention device that also maintains cell viability. Current filtration ...methods, such as tangential flow filtration using hollow-fiber membranes, suffer from membrane fouling, leading to significant reliability and productivity issues such as low cell viability, product retention, and an increased contamination risk associated with filter replacement. We introduce a novel cell retention device based on inertial sorting for perfusion culture of suspended mammalian cells. The device was characterized in terms of cell retention capacity, biocompatibility, scalability, and long-term reliability. This technology was demonstrated using a high concentration (>20 million cells/mL) perfusion culture of an IgG
-producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line for 18-25 days. The device demonstrated reliable and clog-free cell retention, high IgG
recovery (>99%) and cell viability (>97%). Lab-scale perfusion cultures (350 mL) were used to demonstrate the technology, which can be scaled-out with parallel devices to enable larger scale operation. The new cell retention device is thus ideal for rapid perfusion process development in a biomanufacturing workflow.
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•Cell cluster removal device based on spiral inertial microfluidics.•Cell cluster removal with high volumetric throughput, removal efficiency, and biocompatibility.•The first ...demonstration of the selective removal of large CHO cell clusters from bioreactors using microfluidics.•The first report on the large-particle trapping effect in spiral inertial microfluidic devices.
Suspension cultures of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are extensively employed in biopharmaceutical production. During cultivation, CHO cell clusters often form due to cell death and other irregularities, substantially reducing cell growth and productivity. In this study, we introduce a novel method for the selective removal of large CHO cell clusters from bioreactors, utilizing the large-particle trapping effect in spiral inertial microfluidics. A single spiral inertial microfluidic device effectively removed large clusters from CHO cell culture, demonstrating high volumetric throughput, removal efficiency, and biocompatibility. This straightforward, agent-free, and continuous-flow approach can be applied to remove large mammalian cell clusters across various scales and modes of operation (discontinuous or continuous) during cell line development, bioprocess optimization, and biomanufacturing.
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been the most commonly used mammalian host for large-scale commercial production of therapeutic proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies. Enhancement of ...productivity of these CHO cells is one of the top priorities in the biopharmaceutical industry to reduce manufacturing cost. Although there are many different methods (e.g. temperature, pH, feed) to improve protein production in CHO cells, the role of physiologically relevant hydrostatic pressure in CHO cell culture has not been reported yet. In this study, four different hydrostatic pressures (0, 30, 60, and 90 mmHg) were applied to batch CHO cells, and their cell growth/metabolism and IgG
production were examined. Our results indicate that hydrostatic pressure can increase the maximum cell concentration by up to 50%. Moreover, overall IgG
concentration on Day 5 showed that 30 mmHg pressure can increase IgG
production by 26%. The percentage of non-disulphide-linked antibody aggregates had no significant change under pressure. Besides, no significant difference was observed between 30 mmHg and no pressure conditions in terms of cell clumping formation. All these findings are important for the optimization of fed-batch or perfusion culture for directing cell growth and improving antibody production.
Abstract
A novel wave bioreactor‐perfusion culture system was developed for highly efficient production of monoclonal antibody IgG
2a
(mAb) by hybridoma cells. The system consists of a wave ...bioreactor, a floating membrane cell‐retention filter, and a weight‐based perfusion controller. A polyethylene membrane filter with a pore size of 7 μm was floating on the surface of the culture broth for cell retention, eliminating the need for traditional pump around flow loops and external cell separators. A weight‐based perfusion controller was designed to balance the medium renewal rate and the harvest rate during perfusion culture. BD Cell mAb Medium (BD Biosciences, CA) was identified to be the optimal basal medium for mAb production during batch culture. A control strategy for perfusion rate (volume of fresh medium/working volume of reactor/day, vvd) was identified as a key factor affecting cell growth and mAb accumulation during perfusion culture, and the optimal control strategy was increasing perfusion rate by 0.15 vvd per day. Average specific mAb production rate was linearly corrected with increasing perfusion rate within the range of investigation. The maximum viable cell density reached 22.3 × 10
5
and 200.5 × 10
5
cells/mL in the batch and perfusion culture, respectively, while the corresponding maximum mAb concentration reached 182.4 and 463.6 mg/L and the corresponding maximum total mAb amount was 182.4 and 1406.5 mg, respectively. Not only the yield of viable cell per liter of medium (32.9 × 10
5
cells/mL per liter medium) and the mAb yield per liter of medium (230.6 mg/L medium) but also the mAb volumetric productivity (33.1 mg/L·day) in perfusion culture were much higher than those (i.e., 22.3 × 10
5
cells/mL per liter medium, 182.4 mg/L medium, and 20.3 mg/L·day) in batch culture. Relatively fast cell growth and the perfusion culture approach warrant that high biomass and mAb productivity may be obtained in such a novel perfusion culture system (1 L working volume), which offers an alternative approach for producing gram quantity of proteins from industrial cell lines in a liter‐size cell culture. The fundamental information obtained in this study may be useful for perfusion culture of hybridoma cells on a large scale.
Heat‐shock proteins (HSPs) act like “chaperones”, making sure that the cellapos;s proteins are in the right shape and in the right place at the right time. Heat‐shock protein glycoprotein 96 (gp96) ...is a member of the HSP90 protein family, which chaperones a number of molecules in protein folding and transportation. Heat‐shock protein gp96 serves as a natural adjuvant for chaperoning antigenic peptides into the immune surveillance pathways. Currently, heat‐shock protein gp96 was only isolated from murine and human tissues and cell lines. An animal cell suspension culture process for the production of heat‐shock protein gp96 by MethA tumor cell was developed for the first time in spinner flasks. Effects of culture medium and condition were studied to enhance the MethA tumor cell density and the production and productivity of heat‐shock protein gp96. Initial glucose concentration had a significant effect on the heat‐shock protein gp96 accumulation, and an initial glucose level of 7.0 g/L was desirable for MethA tumor cell growth and heat‐shock protein gp96 production and productivity. Cultures at an initial glutamine concentration of 3 and 6 mM were nutritionally limited by glutamine. At an initial glutamine concentration of 6 mM, the maximal viable cell density of 19.90 × 105 cells/mL and the maximal heat‐shock protein gp96 production of 4.95 mg/L was obtained. The initial concentration of RPMI 1640 and serum greatly affected the MethA tumor cell culture process. Specifically cultures with lower initial concentration of RPMI 1640 resulted in lower viable cell density and lower heat‐shock protein gp96 production. At an initial serum concentration of 8%, the maximal viable cell density of 19.18 × 105 cells/mL and the maximal heat‐shock protein gp96 production of 5.67 mg/L was obtained. The spin rate significantly affected the cell culture process in spinner flasks, and a spin rate of 150 rpm was desirable for MethA tumor cell growth and heat‐shock protein gp96 production and productivity. Not only the cell density but also the production and productivity of heat‐shock protein gp96 attained in this work are the highest reported in the culture of MethA tumor cell. This work offers an effective approach for producing heat‐shock protein glycoprotein 96 from the cell culture process. The fundamental information obtained in this study may be useful for the efficient production of heat‐shock protein by animal cell suspension culture on a large scale.
A novel wave bioreactor-perfusion culture system was developed for highly efficient production of monoclonal antibody IgG2a (mAb) by hybridoma cells. The system consists of a wave bioreactor, a ...floating membrane cell-retention filter, and a weight-based perfusion controller. A polyethylene membrane filter with a pore size of 7 microm was floating on the surface of the culture broth for cell retention, eliminating the need for traditional pump around flow loops and external cell separators. A weight-based perfusion controller was designed to balance the medium renewal rate and the harvest rate during perfusion culture. BD Cell mAb Medium (BD Biosciences, CA) was identified to be the optimal basal medium for mAb production during batch culture. A control strategy for perfusion rate (volume of fresh medium/working volume of reactor/day, vvd) was identified as a key factor affecting cell growth and mAb accumulation during perfusion culture, and the optimal control strategy was increasing perfusion rate by 0.15 vvd per day. Average specific mAb production rate was linearly corrected with increasing perfusion rate within the range of investigation. The maximum viable cell density reached 22.3 x 105 and 200.5 x 105 cells/mL in the batch and perfusion culture, respectively, while the corresponding maximum mAb concentration reached 182.4 and 463.6 mg/L and the corresponding maximum total mAb amount was 182.4 and 1406.5 mg, respectively. Not only the yield of viable cell per liter of medium (32.9 x 105 cells/mL per liter medium) and the mAb yield per liter of medium (230.6 mg/L medium) but also the mAb volumetric productivity (33.1 mg/L.day) in perfusion culture were much higher than those (i.e., 22.3 x 105 cells/mL per liter medium, 182.4 mg/L medium, and 20.3 mg/L.day) in batch culture. Relatively fast cell growth and the perfusion culture approach warrant that high biomass and mAb productivity may be obtained in such a novel perfusion culture system (1 L working volume), which offers an alternative approach for producing gram quantity of proteins from industrial cell lines in a liter-size cell culture. The fundamental information obtained in this study may be useful for perfusion culture of hybridoma cells on a large scale.
Heat-shock protein, glycoprotein 96 (gp96), elicits both innate and adaptive immune responses against tumors or viral infections. In our laboratory, MethA tumor cell suspension culture process has ...been recently developed for gp96 production in spinner flask. In this work, significances of pH and temperature on the novel bioprocess were studied in stirred-tank bioreactor. Lowering of culture pH and temperature led to a significant reduction of average specific growth rate but cell viability remained high for a prolonged cultivation time resulting in a higher integral of viable cells. Both the maximal viable cell density and gp96 production were attained at a pH of 7.0. Interestingly, gp96 production was increased above and below 37 °C, presumably because gp96 biosynthesis was induced when MethA tumor cell underwent heat or cold. For MethA tumor cell growth 37 °C was desirable, while gp96 production and productivity was obtained at their peak values at 40 °C. The results of this work might be useful to scale-up the bioprocess into the pilot scale.
Heat-shock protein glycoprotein (gp96) serves as a natural adjuvant for chaperoning antigenic peptide into the immune surveillance pathway. In our laboratory, MethA tumor cell suspension culture ...process has been recently developed for gp96 production in spinner flask. In this work, effects of dissolved oxygen tension (DOT) and agitation rate on this process were studied in stirred-tank bioreactor. The optimal conditions for gp96 production were different with those for MethA tumor cell growth. MethA tumor cell growth pattern was not much changed by various levels of DOT and agitation rate, while gp96 biosynthesis was more sensitive to DOT and agitation rate. Compared with 50% of DOT, the production and specific productivity of gp96 was increased by 27 and 66% at 10% of DOT, respectively. Compared with the agitation rate of 100 rpm, the production and volumetric productivity of gp96 was increased by 48 and 144% at the agitation rate of 200 rpm, respectively. Low DOT (i.e., 10% of air saturation) and high agitation rate (i.e., 200 rpm) were identified to be favorable for gp96 biosynthesis. The results of this work might be useful to scale-up the bioprocess into the pilot scale.
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