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Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | GENengnews.com | AUGUST 2014 | 27 BIOPROCESSING tion products as well," says Millie Ullah, the company's product management leader for single-use products. Fermentation differs from mammalian cell culture in several respects. Bacteria and yeast cultivations are typically much denser and more oxygen-demanding processes that can withstand high shear forces, especially Esch- erichia coli and Pichia processes. Mammalian cells are slow growing and shear sensitive, so agitation and gassing must be gentle. "We have customers who use our single- use bioreactors today modifed for fermenta- tion applications," Ullah notes. At this stage, the company has a cell cul- ture product that operates at a gas fow of 0.1 VVM (vessel volumes per minute) in a standard product, which can be increased through customization to meet the demand for fermentation, but limited when com- pared with stainless-steel fermenters. Agita- tion can also be modifed to be higher than conventional bioreactors. Thermo Fisher Scientifc achieved this by designing spargers that introduce more gas into the system, increasing the size or num- ber of exhaust flters, adding condensers to the exhaust line, and increasing the motor size and agitation rate. Condensers cool ex- haust fow to reduce condensation and avoid flter blocking. Materials of construction are the same as for single-use bioreactors. A number of customers use these biore- actors today for moderate-density microbial applications. Scientists from Allergan and the Keck Graduate Institute presented a case study on a variant of this system at the Flex- ible Facilities conference earlier this year. "We've already achieved very high cell densities, but we're looking to improve per- formance even more," Ullah tells GEN. A Cleaning Alternative Rapid, effcient process development is vital for every company, and even at uni- versities and research institutes. "Hence, low-maintenance bioreactors that are easy to operate and always ready-to-use are an emerging requirement for many users," says Dirk Hebel, Ph.D., product manager for bio- reactors at Infors. The factor most limiting bioreactor throughput is the time spent for cleaning and sterilizing the vessels. While clean-in-place and steam-in-place are standard features of larger stainless-steel bioreactors, this functionality has traditionally been inaccessible for com- pact, lab-scale vessels. Infors has recently bridged this capa- bilities gap with its LabCIP system, which is now available as an option for its Labfors 5 glass bioreactor with a working volume of 0.5–10 L. LabCIP began as a special project for Novartis, an Infors customer, and is now fully commercialized. LabCIP automatically conducts CIP and SIP at the push of a button. The process is confgurable and offers options for cleaning the vessel with base or acid. In contrast to steel bioreactors, sterilization occurs chemically at 60°C. A network of valves ensures contact between cleaning solution and every product contact surface within the bioreactor. "The Labfors 5 with LabCIP allowed us to double the throughput from 8 to 16 pro- tein expressions per week," says Alvar Gos- sert, Ph.D., a research investigator and lab head at Novartis. Labfors 5 bioreactors belong to the In- fors incubation shaker and bioreactor port- folio, with volumes from 1 mL to 1,000 L. Within this range, the Labfors 5 is suitable for process optimization after screening in smaller, parallel bioreactors. For more information: www.micro-matrix.com or e-mail us at: info@applikon-biotechnology.com Individual pH, DO 2 and temperature control in each well For microbial or cell-culture use Programmable liquid feeding profiles in each of the 24 separate wells Intuitive software enables advanced experimental designs Introducing the micro-Matrix. The next generation micro bioreactors 24 bioreactors in the palm of your hand a step ahead The micro-Matrix is a revolutionary new bioreactor platform enabling total control over 24 separate micro wells in a microtiter plate. For screening, media optimization, DoE trials or process development, the micro-Matrix enables you to accomplish more work than ever before, all on a small footprint. The Bolt-on Bioreactor (BoB) project is an independent initiative founded in 2013 and aimed at providing the future standard system for the culture of adherent cells for biopharmaceutical applications, according to Marcos Simon, founder and inventor of the technology behind the project. "The successful solution should provide a huge surface area optimum for cell at- tachment, contained in a reduced volume, supplied as a sterile and ready-to-use de- vice that provides automated and continu- ous culture of adherent cells even in non- classied laboratories," explained Simon, who's also the CEO running the project. Having secured the intellectual prop- erty and following an on-going implemen- tation of design features provided by the market through an open design initiative, Simon said the BoB team expects to con- clude a funding round and will strive to bring the product to market by the end of second quarter 2015. The BoB project is currently established in northern Spain and plans to open oces in Singapore, Scandi- navia, and the United States. n BoB Project