Engineering Commons^™

Biophysical Characterization Approaches To Aid The Selection Of Protein Formulations By Predicting Their Physical Stability During Long-Term Storage, Hristo Svilenov, Gerhard Winter

Biological and Pharmaceutical Complex Fluids III: Protein Self-Assembly, Rheology and Interfacial Properties

The formulation of therapeutic proteins is a critical process which aims at finding the most suitable conditions that impede protein degradation during long-term storage. One degradation path of high interest is the non-native aggregation¹. The latter can be greatly suppressed by the selection of suitable solution conditions². Over the years, various biophysical techniques have been explored as tools to quickly select the most promising formulations for long-term storage.

In this talk, we share the experience in our lab how some of these techniques can be integrated into protein formulation studies. We discuss the application of differential …

A Novel Technique To Characterize The Surface Hydrophobicity Of Proteins Using Inverse Liquid Chromatography, Dilip Sethi, Sarah Hedberg, Daryl Williams

Biological and Pharmaceutical Complex Fluids III: Protein Self-Assembly, Rheology and Interfacial Properties

This work presents a novel technique to characterize the surface hydrophobicity and other surface properties of proteins. The surface properties of industrial and therapeutic proteins are key to understanding their behavior in-situ, in the laboratory and in processes. Protein surface hydrophobicity is a marker for three dimensional structure, stability and function. Inverse Liquid Chromatography of Proteins (ILCP) with small molecule hydrophobic probes can be used to obtain direct measurements of the surface hydrophobicity of column resin-bound proteins using changes in probe retention behavior. The dimensionless hydrophobicity factor (H_f) for Lysozyme and BSA was obtained with changing pH …

Aggregation Challenges In The Formulation Development Of Multi-Dose Peptide Products, Jingtao Zhang, Katelyn Smith, Wei Xu, Yongchao Su, Suzanne D’Addio, Yogita Krishnamachari, Jameson Bothe, Daniel Yin, Xinpei Mao

Biological and Pharmaceutical Complex Fluids III: Protein Self-Assembly, Rheology and Interfacial Properties

The formulation development of parenteral peptide therapeutics frequently encounters aggregation challenges. In-depth biophysical understanding of the molecule and formulation are required to achieve formulation robustness. Further, unique considerations need to be given for peptide products that require multi-dose as the use of preservatives can promote aggregation while preservative effectiveness can also be impacted by its interaction with the peptide. This presentation will focus on the reversible and irreversible fibril aggregates in peptide formulations. Biophysical characterization of aggregation and formulation will be discussed in detail. Formation of reversible aggregates and the impact of excipients especially preservatives will be discussed. For the …

Conference Program, Samiul Amin, Paolo Arosio, Miguel Rodrigues

Biological and Pharmaceutical Complex Fluids III: Protein Self-Assembly, Rheology and Interfacial Properties

No abstract provided.

Conference Program, Erin Buckley, Christophe Moser, Brian Pogue, David Sampson

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XVI

No abstract provided.

Novel Supply Chain And Process Modeling For Cell Therapy Manufacturing And Distribution, Chip White, Ben Wang, Kan Wang, Reid Bishop, Aaron Levine, Brian Liu, Bhavya Divvela, Aubrey Incorvaia, Kris Saha, Tava Das

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

We present a two-level hierarchical supply chain model of (autologous) CAR-T cell therapy that serves as the basis for the development of strategies to: 1) deliver cell therapy products that are safe and have a high level of efficacy, 2) minimize fulfillment time and variability, and 3) reduce total manufacturing and logistics costs while reducing the risk of patient morbidity and mortality. The model consists of two integral components: (1) an agent-based program for a “single manufacturing facility” that simulates the manufacturing and quality control process of cell therapy; and (2) a supply chain network program that evaluates different supply …

Key Engineering Challenges In The Biomanufacturing Of Lentiviral Viral Vectors, Peter Jones

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

No Abstract.

Tangential Flow Filtration And Scalability In Viral Vector Purification, Eni Sterjanaj, Heather Mall, Rachel Legmann, Jacky Dang

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

Pall Biotech has linearly scalable tangential flow filtration technology that can cover processing volume ranges from less than a liter to over 2000 liters. Manual assemblies can be used with Pall TFF filters in scales under 20L and programmable skids are available for larger scales. In this document TFF linear scalability of up to 200 liters is covered starting from a 7L initial volume and maintaining similar pressures, processing times and yields at all scales. Using this scalable technology Pall biotech can help biologics companies go to clinical trials and to commercial scale manufacturing successfully.

Please click Additional Files below …

Single Use Disposable Biosettler Removes The Dead Cells And Cell Debris Selectively To Increase The Viability Percentage Of Mammalian Cells (E.G., Car-T) During Expansion, Dhinakar Kompala

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

Current challenge in a FDA approved cell therapy product for adult B-cell leukemia is reported to be the percentage of viable cells after manufacturing is sometimes out of specified range. As the head of a large contract development and manufacturing organization observed, this fall in viability percentage during CAR-T cell manufacturing is a challenge to the whole industry.

We present a simple and powerful off-the-shelf solution to this big challenge in all mammalian cell culture expansion bioreactor system. Our single use disposable BioSettler has been demonstrated to be uniquely capable of removing dead cells and cell debris selectively from the …

Conference Program, Dolores Baksh, Rod Rietze, Ivan Wall

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Closed Car-T Manufacturing Process, Loo-Yong Steven Kee, Calley Hirsch, Devina Ramsaroop, Elizabeth Csaszar, Danylo Sirskyj, Aaron Dulgar-Tulloch

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

The field of immunotherapy has emerged as a promising new type of treatment for cancer with the approval of the first two CAR-T therapies. The clinical success of T-cell based immunotherapies necessitates a robust manufacturing process for these products to be consistently produced at commercial scale. Our CAR-T workflow combines unit operation specific solutions for thaw of an apheresis unit, wash, CD3 selection, T-cell activation, lentiviral transduction, incubator- and reactor-based expansion culture, harvest, formulation, cryopreservation and thaw of CAR-T product. We have evaluated the impact of both serum-containing and xeno-free culture media, commercially available T-cell selection and activation reagents, closed …

Workshop Agenda, Fernanda Masri

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

No abstract provided.

Scale-Up Study For Ex-Vivo Expansion Of Allogeneic Natural Killer Cells In Stirred-Tank Bioreactor, Juyoung Kim, Hyung Jin Nam, Sang Hyun Lee, Jong Beom Ku, Seung Ryel Han, Hye Jin Shin, Yu Kyeong Hwang, Sang Hoon Paik

Advancing Manufacture of Cell and Gene Therapies VI

Natural killer (NK) cells are a type of lymphocyte in the blood that are responsible for innate and adaptive immune response, and they mature in the liver and bone marrow. Being a key role in host defense system with direct and indirect killing of virus-infected cells or cancer cells, NK cell has been considered an attractive candidate for cancer therapy. Peripheral blood shows the low frequency of NK cells, so ex vivo expansion method is important to obtain sufficient NK cells for therapeutic use. Currently, we successfully developed bioreactor process for NK cell expansion on lab-scale. Stirred-tank bioreactor could be …

Moving From A Bioreactor Scale-Up/Scale-Down Approach To A More Holistic Operational Design Space View, Gene Schaefer, Rick Yeager, Ted Deloggio

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Scale-up of bioreactor processes for biologic products has been an area of focus in the industry for over 50 years and the results have generally been successful through the application of a number of specific correlations across scales for mass transfer, mixing, etc. However, the ability to visualize and understand the bioreactor design space in terms of these parameters has generally been limited as has any general understanding of how close a given process comes to certain sensitivity limits at various scales. As part of a project which involved establishing scale-down models at two different sites with long-term objectives of …

Deepening Knowledge On Cho Cells Metabolism Using Multiple Tracer Substrates, Ana Teixeira, Manuel Carrondo

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Optimization of culture conditions through trial-and-error has led to much of the past progress on animal cell culture. Today, a renewed account of the underlying biologies through a “systems” view is providing a deeper knowledge of cellular physiology and laying the basis to reengineer desirable states of further increased culture performance. In this work, we took a comprehensive view of cellular metabolism by extensively profiling extracellular and intracellular metabolomes after ¹³C‑label supplementation in parallel labelling cultures of [1,2-¹³C]Glucose, [U-¹³C,¹⁵N]Asn, [U-¹³C,¹⁵N]Ser and [1-¹³C]Pyruvate. This integrative approach was used …

A Holistic Approach To Facility Protection From Adventitious Agents – A Case Study, Matthew Osborne, Ronan Kelly, Ann Maria Mccrohan, Marie Murphy

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The Eli Lilly biologics manufacturing facility in Kinsale, Ireland has been operational since 2010 with a 100% cell culture contamination control success rate. The presentation will review the holistic approach to facility protection from adventitious agents that underpins this success including:

• The risk assessment approach to points of entry and management via detectability and control measures
• The approach to personnel training that considers human factors, increased vigilance and event simulations following strategies that are used in chemical synthesis process safety

The presentation will then focus on control of adventitious virus. The talk will briefly comment on the early warning measures …

Implementation Activities For A Chemically-Defined Media Platform To Minimize Media Variability Impact To Cell Culture Performance And Product Quality, Martin Gawlitzek, Brian Wong, Robert Shawley, Masaru Shiratori

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Chemically-defined media have been developed for CHO cell culture platform processes. During implementation of the media at multiple scales and sites globally, additional activities were required to seamlessly balance practical considerations with desired process and product quality performance. Three main focus areas were further investigated and optimized to enable the platform implementation: 1) media preparation, filtration, and post-filtration stability; 2) media and supplement viral barrier compatibility; and 3) and raw material variability considerations. Overall, the effort provided an outlined approach for media implementation in the global network including scale and site-specific case studies where novel options were required.

The data …

Anti-Oxidant Addition To Cd-Cho Media To Prevent Damage Induced By Uv Disinfection, Emma Dare

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation is an advantageous sterilization technique in the biopharmaceutical industry as it is capable of targeting non-enveloped viruses and smaller viruses that are difficult to remove via conventional filtration. Unfortunately, cell culture media contains many components that, upon exposure to light, undergo phototransformations that subsequently lead to poor cell growth. We have shown previously Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture performance was affected at fluences above 200 mJ/cm² due to the depletion of several key nutritional components (pyruvate, tryptophan, tyrosine, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, thiamine) and the accumulation of reaction by-products (acetate, formate, sarcosine). Our objective was to determine …

Improvement Of Cho Specific Productivity Using Amino Acid Derivatives, Aline Zimmer, Caroline Hecklau, Sascha Pering, Alisa Schnellbaecher, Thomas Eichhorn

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Industrial fed-batch cultivation of mammalian cells is used for the production of therapeutic proteins such as monoclonal antibodies. Besides medium ensuring initial growth, feeding is necessary to improve growth, viability and antibody production. Amino acids are key elements for the cellular metabolism but also for the quality of the recombinant protein produced. Several studies have already demonstrated the link between amino acid availability and sequence variants [1-3] or specific modifications like trisulfide bonds [4]. To avoid such modifications, the chemical modification of amino acids is an interesting alternative to modulate their overall solubility [5], …

Development Of An Enriched Cho Feed Media For Quality Therapeutic Antibody Production From High Performing Clones, David Ho

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The use of feed media during protein production is essential to sustain viable cell densities and facilitate high productivity for modern high performing clones. However, the introduction of feed media can also have a significant impact on product quality attributes, such as glycosylation for therapeutic antibodies, which can ultimately impact therapeutic efficacy. For certain antibodies, the absence of fucose on the N-glycan at Asparagine 297 of the Fc domain has been shown to significantly increase binding to the FcgammaRIII receptor on NK cells and results in increased ADCC activity. Here we have incorporated product quality analysis including N-glycan analysis into …

Challenges In The Development And Adaptation Of Platform Process To Existing Pipeline, Edmund Scarfo

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The development and use of platform processes have been adopted as an industry-wide strategy for enabling faster timelines for early clinical stages. However due to increasing product demands and the competitive landscape of antibody therapeutics in the industry, the development and use of a highly productive and economic upstream platform process has also become an adopted strategy. In keeping with industry standards, Takeda’s platform has evolved from upstream processes capable of achieving protein titers from 0.7-1.2 g/L to highly productive processes achieving titers in the range of 4.0-7.0 g/L. Unlike these earlier, low titer processes for the same molecules, the …

Nmr-Based Design Of Chemically-Defined Protein-Free Feed Medium For The Cho Expression System, Marina Goldfeld

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Recombinant expression of antibodies and other biotherapeutics relies heavily on the use of CHO cell lines. The product expression levels in these cell lines are dependent on the feed medium, one of the most important components of the cell culture process. We have developed a systematic approach to designing a chemically-defined feed medium through collaboration between Merck’s Process Development and Assay Development groups. Historically, feed media have been derived from non-chemically defined sources, such as bovine serum and yeast hydrolysate. While these media support robust cell growth and productivity, their chemically-complex nature has hindered efforts to increase the cells’ productivity. …

How To Select The Most Suitable Media For Your Cells, Marcella Dalm

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Many different media are available to culture CHO cells. Most are either growth supporting or productivity supporting. Ideally, the basal medium is a growth supporting medium, while the feed medium is supporting both growth and productivity. In this study two clones producing the same mAb are compared on their response to a range of basal media. Clone I is fast-growing and low-producing, while Clone II is slower-growing, but high-producing. A panel of eleven different basal media from different vendors was evaluated for growth, titer and metabolism.

An overview is given on the response of the cells to the different media. …

Evaluating Sugar-Based Detergents As A Potential Alternative To Poloxamer Bubble Protectant, Jessica Wuu, Jayanthi Lakkyreddy, Steven Meier

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Poloxamer 188 (commonly referred to as Pluronic® F-68) is a commonly-used medium component which protects against bubble-induced shear in mammalian cell cultures. Recently, concerns have arisen due to limited sourcing and variable performance of this critical component. In 2008, Hu, et al.¹ proposed the use of sugar-based detergents – specifically, maltopyranosides and glucopyranosides – as potential bubble protectants based on their rheological properties and relatively low toxicity to cells. This work explores the feasibility of these detergents using commercially relevant CHO cell lines and media. Detergent candidates were evaluated based on their tolerance by cells, stability in cell culture …

Accelerated Bioprocess Characterization By Data Enrichment In Scale-Down Models, Viktor Konakovsky, Graham Mccreath, Jarka Glassey

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Scale-down models are often used for the definition of operating ranges in process development and validation and therefore data exploitation is an important task. Usually, the experimental scientists have very tight timelines and consequentially may often only perform the required routine of cleaning and sorting the data without more sophisticated analyses, even though it might improve data quality. This problem is more exacerbated by the rise of fully automated, miniaturized high-throughput equipment in up- and downstream process development where data processing automation is not just optional but a must. However, cleaned, sorted and time-aligned data alone do not guarantee a …

Development Of A Chemically Defined Media And A Chemically Defined Feeding Strategy For Extended Growth And Enhanced Productivity In Cho-K1 And Cho Dg44 Cultures, Sagar Kokal, Kyle Liu, John Menton

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The biopharmaceutical industry utilizes Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells for the production of recombinant proteins. Due to regulatory restrictions, there has been much focus on using serum-free culture processes including chemically defined (CD) media and feed system. A great deal of time and cost has been invested by biopharmaceutical companies for the development of an optimal CD media. Currently, the fed-batch process is the most dominant method for the large cultivation of CHO cells. In response to these industry requirements, Kerry has developed a complete system including a CD media called Sheff-CHO CD complete and a CD feed system named …

A Host Cell Protein That May Impact Polysorbate Degradataion, Kelvin Lee

Cell Culture Engineering XV

There is growing interest and concern related to host cell proteins. Current issues with host cell proteins include questions related to the various available analytical approaches and the sensitivity of those approaches as well as issues with purification strategies and the impact of host cell proteins downstream. The availability of a sequenced genome enables new opportunities to address problematic host cell proteins via cell line engineering. We studied difficult to remove host cell proteins in CHO cells with the goal of identifying host cell proteins that may be product associated with a number of monoclonal antibodies, that may copurify with …

Development And Application Of Glycosyltransferases For In Vitro Glycoengineering, Alfred Engel

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Glycosylation is an important posttranslational modification of proteins influencing protein folding, stability and regulation of the biological activity, e.g. IgG featuring terminal sialic acids were shown to suppress inflammatory response (ADCC) and increase serum half-life. Fully galactosylated structures seem to improve binding to the complement system (CDC).

Despite all efforts in cell-line engineering and process optimization to increase glycosylation homogeneity, today therapeutic proteins still show a heterogeneous glycosylation pattern, with large variations between bioprocesses and even from batch to batch. The use of glycosyltransferases for enzymatic synthesis of well-defined glycan structures will become an essential tool – at least in …

Retrospective Implementation Of Quality By Design For Legacy Commercialized Enzyme Replacement Therapies, Anup Agarwal, Eric Hayduk

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Quality by Design (QbD) has been widely adopted by the pharmaceutical industry as a tool for transforming development, manufacture, and commercialization of drug products. QbD ensures that quality is built into a manufacturing process to consistently produce desired product. As per a FDA guidance¹, QbD should be employed at the product development stage to ensure manufacture of a product with predefined quality. Here we present a retrospective QbD approach employed at Shire to define an improved control strategy for a commercial process using risk-based process understanding and characterization. Key challenges and considerations of implementing a QbD strategy on …

Comparison Of Commercial Cho Cell Media Formulations Using Material-Oriented Recurrent Spectral Libraries, Kelly Telu

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are commonly used for the production of biological therapeutics. Metabolic profiles of media components can be used to monitor process variability and look for markers that discriminate between batches of product. Currently, there exists no database of CHO media components or a method for the comparison of commercial media formulations. We are creating material-oriented libraries of CHO media components that include LC-MS/MS and GC-MS data. The libraries represent all metabolites that can be detected by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS and consist of recurrent spectra that cover all known fragmentation conditions and precursors. Recurrent spectra occur repeatedly …