Measurement and control of cell culture in microbioreactors using optical chemosensors

ANYL 248

Scott E. Miller, s.miller@bioprocessors.com1, Denis Leroux1, Brett Bernier, b.bernier@bioprocessors.com1, Xinyu Li, x.li@bioprocessors.com1, H. Brett Schreyer, b.schreyer@bioprocessors.com2, and George J. Vella, g.vella@bioprocessors.com2. (1) BioProcessors Corp, 12-A Cabot Road, Woburn, MA 01801, (2) R&D Dept, BioProcessors Corp, 12A Cabot Rd, Woburn, MA 01801-1072
Measurement and control of environmental parameters is crucial for the optimization of complex bioprocesses. BioProcessors has developed the SimCell™ Automated Management System that allows hundreds of mammalian cell cultures at the submilliliter-scale to be maintained and monitored automatically. Novel scale-down microbioreactor arrays have been designed to both emulate the environment in traditional bench-top bioreactors and allow for the non-invasive monitoring of pH, dissolved CO2 (dCO2), and dissolved oxygen (DO) using optical chemosensors. Total biomass of the cell cultures was measured by optical density. On-line and derived measurements were used with predictive control schemes and mass transfer models of the microbioreactor as the basis for pH and dissolved oxygen control. The SimCell™ sensing and control strategies will be described. Accurate, on-line measurement and control of cell cultures in microbioreactors will be demonstrated, as will the effects of environmental setpoints on culture performance.