A Scalable 30 Ml Bioreactor for Biopharmaceutical Screening

Glycosylated Biopharmaceutcals are usually produced by suspended mammalian cells (typically Chinese Hamster Ovarium (CHO) cells) cultured in stirred tank bioreactors. However, screening protocols at the lab scale (i.e. to find optimum culture media or initial cell density) mainly rely on Petri dish, bottle or Erlenmeyer flask culture. There is an evident need for small scale fully scalable mammalian cell culture mini-bioreactors for screening processes. Here, we study the mixing performance, mass transfer capabilities, and culture adequacy of 30 mL eccentric stirred tanks. A detailed mixing characterization of the proposed bioreactor is presented. LIF experiments and CFD computations are used to identify operational conditions required for adequate mixing (globally chaotic conditions). Suspended CHO cells are cultured in this novel bioreactor system, and results are compared versus Erlenmeyer flask cultivation. Our results demonstrate good mixing performance, culture convenience, and potential scalability of the proposed screening bioreactor.