ambr(TM) Mini-bioreactor as a high-throughput tool for culture process development to accelerate transfer to stainless steel manufacturing scale: comparability study from process performance to product quality attributes

Abstract

Enhancing throughput of bioprocess development has become increasingly important to rapidly screen and optimize cell culture process parameters. With increasing timeline pressures to get therapeutic candidates into the clinic, resource intensive approaches such as the use of shake flasks and bench-top bioreactors may limit the design space for experimentation to yield highly productive processes. The need to conduct large numbers of experiments has resulted in the use of miniaturized high-throughput (HT) technology for bioprocess development. One such high-throughput system is the ambr(TM) platform, a robotically driven, mini-bioreactor system developed by TAP-Sartorius.

In this study we assessed and compared the performance parameters of ambr(TM) mini-bioreactor runs to 2L glasses , 80L and 400L stainless steel bioreactors using a CHO cell line producing a recombinant monoclonal antibody. The daily parameters monitored during the cultures were cell growth and cell viability, offline pH and dissolved oxygen, metabolite profiles (glucose, lactate and ammonia) and monoclonal antibody titer. In addition, we compared the product quality attributes (high and low molecular weight species, charge variants) of the clarified cell culture fluid post Protein-A elution generated in the mini-bioreactor run to the larger manufacturing scales.