Scaling strategy for cell and gene therapy bioreactors based on turbulent parameters.

So far, power input has been used as the main parameter for bioreactor scale-up/-down in upstream process development and manufacturing. The rationale is that maintaining a consistent power input per unit volume should result in comparable mixing times at different scales. However, shear generated from turbulent flow may compromise the integrity of non-robust cells such as those used during the production of cell and gene therapies, which may lead to low product quality and yield.

Error propagation in constraint-based modeling of Chinese hamster ovary cells.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most popular mammalian cell factories for the production of glycosylated biopharmaceuticals. To further increase titer and productivity and ensure product quality, rational system-level engineering strategies based on constraint-based metabolic modeling, such as flux balance analysis (FBA), have gained strong interest. However, the quality of FBA predictions depends on the accuracy of the experimental input data, especially on the exchange rates of extracellular metabolites.

Dissecting peak broadening in chromatography columns under non-binding conditions.

Peak broadening in small columns is dominated by spreading in the extra column volume and not by hydrodynamic dispersion or mass transfer resistances. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) permits to study the influence of these effects separately. Here, peak broadening of three single component solutes - silica nanoparticles, acetone, and lysozyme - was experimentally determined for two different columns (100 mm × 8 mm inner diameter and 10 mm × 5 mm inner diameter) under non-binding conditions.