TubeSpin satellites: a fast track approach for process development with animal cells using shaking technology

Abstract Process development with mammalian cells is often limited by the lack of resources and assay capacity to deal with the multiplicity and complexity of interrelated parameters in culture technology. Multi-component analysis, an issue in media development and in screening of newly established production cell lines, is subject to the same limitations. We therefore developed a high throughput system for the culture of mammalian cells in suspension. Our scale-down reactor system called “TubeSpin” allows many experiments to be run in parallel with a minimum of resources and labor. Reactor conditions were readily simulated using 50 ml centrifugation tubes as culture vessels mounted on a rotational shaker installed in a warm room. This system was applied to the development work for a number of CHO based processes for the production of a human recombinant IgG. We show here how such a system can increase process development speed and efficiency. The results presented illustrate the improvement of volumetric productivity using butyrate and temperature shifts.