Implementing an automated reactor sampling system for monitoring cell culture bioreactors

BIOT 252

Lauren Speciner, speciner.lauren@gene.com1, George Barringer, barge@GrotonTech.com2, Joseph Perez1, Chris Grimaldi1, Richard Reineke1, and Adema Arroyo1. (1) Process Development Engineering, Genentech, Inc, 1 DNA Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080, (2) Groton Technology, Inc, 45 Discovery Way, Acton, MA 01720
Monitoring of cell culture bioreactors is critical to process control and optimization. Currently, offline sampling is used in various cell culture operations. This process is timely and labor intensive. Automating the sampling process is highly desired but concerns about sterility, sample volume and cross contamination are common. This paper presents the evaluation of an automated sampling system by Groton Biosystems. This system allows sampling from up to eight bioreactors and connections to up to four analytical devices. It automates the sampling process from the reactor through the analytical device, reporting the results directly into a data historian. Several aspects of the evaluation will be discussed, including ease of use, robustness, sample viability, data reporting capabilities, and bioreactor contamination risk. The performance of the system was compared to the current manual sampling technique. Results showed that the two techniques are comparable. Bioreactor contamination was not observed. The system is easy to use and does not adversely affect the cell culture process.
 

Poster Session
5:30 PM-7:30 PM, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster

Division of Biochemical Technology

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007