Engineering Commons^™

Troubleshooting The Recover Of Mater Cell Bank For A Commerical Product, Mei Shao, Kishan Rao

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Poor recoverability was observed for the Master Cell Bank (MCB) during the preparation of Working Cell Bank for a commercial product. The presentation will describe the investigation process, root causes identified and corrective actions implemented. A new Working Cell Bank was successfully manufactured after implementing the corrective actions. Our strategy to test the WCB prior to commercial manufacturing will also be discussed. In addition, preventative actions were also implemented as a result of the event.

The Oxygen Binding Protein, Hemoxcell(R), Increases Cho Cell Growth And Extends Viability By Enhancing Oxygen Delivery, Katrin Braasch

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The continuous monitoring of cell growth and viability is an integral part of biopharmaceutical production. Measurements of changes in the polarizability of individual cells can identify early emerging sub-populations of apoptotic cells in a dielectrophoretic (DEP) cytometer designed at the University of Manitoba. In this instrument the trajectory of individual cells was tracked as they passed through a bank of electrodes (sensitivity: 0.1 µm; rate: 5 cells per second) designed to differentially perturb the cells according to their polarizability. This perturbation was recorded as a force index (FI), which was related to the electrical displacement of the cells. Using this …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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. …

Evaluation Of Performance Enhancing Effects Of Supplementation With Complex Feed System And Supplements With Sheff-Cho Cd Complete Media In Cho-K1 And Cho Dg44 Cultures, John Menton, Kyle Liu, Sagar Kokal

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Biopharmaceutical companies routinely utilize feed systems for maximizing the yield of recombinant proteins in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Synergies between plant-derived hydrolysates, yeast extracts and recombinant proteins have previously been demonstrated to enhance productivity in CHO fed-batch cultures. Based on this knowledge, Kerry has developed CHO specific ACF (animal component free) feed systems and supplements for improving the overall culture health and enhancing recombinant protein yields. The availability of protein-free (PF) versions of the feeds and supplements provides an option for production platforms with PF requirements. Kerry has developed Sheff-CHO CD complete a CD media designed to work synergistically …

An Addition Of Lithium Chloride Improves The Transient Gene Expression Yield In Cho Cells, Che Kim, Tae Kwang, Gyun Lee

Cell Culture Engineering XV

As hundreds of new recombinant therapeutic proteins enter into development each year, a cost-effective transient gene expression (TGE) system is required to assess these proteins at an early phase as a more rapid alternative to a stable gene expression system. While several strategies, such as genetic manipulation and environmental modification, have been attempted in TGE systems to improve the overall yield in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, chemical supplementation is often employed in industrial processes owing to its simplicity and effectiveness. Lithium chloride (LiCl), which is known to induce G2/M-phase cell cycle arrest, was found to be an attractive chemical …

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 …

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fate: Applying Biomaterials For Control Of Stem Cell Behavior, Hilary J. Anderson, Jugal Kishore Sahoo, Rein V. Ulijn, Matthew J. Dalby

Publications and Research

The materials pipeline for biomaterials and tissue engineering applications is under continuous development. Specifically, there is great interest in the use of designed materials in the stem cell arena as materials can be used to manipulate the cells providing control of behavior. This is important as the ability to “engineer” complexity and subsequent in vitro growth of tissues and organs is a key objective for tissue engineers. This review will describe the nature of the materials strategies, both static and dynamic, and their influence specifically on mesenchymal stem cell fate.

Scaling Microcarrier-Based Cell Expansion Processes, Mark Szczypka

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Therapies utilizing stem cells isolated from various tissues are currently undergoing clinical evaluation. It is predicted that for many indications large quantities of cells will be required to treat the numbers of patients in need of therapy. This requirement represents a challenge because the surface area needed to generate the projected numbers of cells is significant. Microcarriers are a viable platform to meet the surface area requirement for generation of the predicted number of cells.

One challenge when transitioning to larger reactors is the identification of agitation conditions that allow for good suspension of the microcarriers and sufficient kLa and …

Development Of A Qualtiy Driven Integrated Continuous Biomanufacturing Process, Daniel Karst, Fabian Steinenbach, Thomas Villiger, Miroslav Soos, Massimo Morbidelli

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The recent improvements of continuous up- and downstream processes in the production of therapeutic proteins suggest their final integration to a single process stream. Besides general benefits of continuous manufacturing, such as reduced equipment size, enhanced cost efficiency and high volumetric productivity, the steady state operation favors constant or even improved product quality. However, N-linked glycosylation, charge variants, aggregates and other critical quality attributes of therapeutic proteins depend on operating conditions in up- and downstream processing. The combination of long process durations and the accompanied lack of experimental high-throughput capabilities of continuous bioprocesses demand for model based optimization regarding product …

Implementation And Evaluation Of A High-Throughput Sirna Screening System For Suspension Cho Cells, Gerald Klanert, Daniel Fernandez, Vaibhav Jadhav, Nicole Borth

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells are the most frequently used mammalian cell factory for the production of human-like recombinant proteins. Due to existing limitations in growth and protein production, genetic optimization of CHO cell lines may significantly enhance bioprocess productivities. Knockdown of genes by siRNAs is a standard method to identify genes involved in a desirable phenotype, either because their knockdown improves or degenerates the property. As at least 13000 different transcripts are present in a cell at any time, it is of interest to develop a method that is able to efficiently test the effect of gene knockdown at …

Efficient Production Of Influenza Virus-Like Particles In Hek-293sf Cells, Alina Venereo

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Influenza is considered a major threat to human health. The current influenza vaccines production system in embryonated eggs does not satisfy the market needs in cases of pandemic or high seasonal demand. Furthermore, even though the existent seasonal vaccines are effective to induce protective immunity in healthy adults, poor immunogenicity in the elderly and early childhood is elicited (Wu et al., 2010). Therefore, there is a need to develop new generation influenza vaccines produced in robust and flexible production platforms capable of providing complete immune protection and support the vaccines demand. Virus-like particles (VLP) constitute a promising alternative to safely …

Process Intensification Of Perfusion: To Steady-State, Or Unsteady-State, That Is The Question, Henry Lin

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Recent advances in process intensification of perfusion cell culture have diverged into two general modes of operation. One focuses on the conventional steady-state concept of maintaining constant high cell density over a lengthier culture duration, and the other focuses on a much more intensified non-steady state cell density, at times reaching >100e⁶ cells/mL. The latter has been coined concentrated fed-batch and the former continuous perfusion. Several underlying characteristics differentiate the two modes. In the steady-state approach, cell bleed is required and the cell density typically can range from 20 to 50e⁶ cells/mL. Culture duration of 30 days or …

A Multi-Omic Approach To Understanding Recombinant Protein Degradation In Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Ronan Kelly

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Product degradation, such as proteolytic clipping, is a common quality issue with the recombinant expression of proteins from Chinese hamster ovary cells in the biopharmaceutical industry. In this study we applied a “multi-omic” approach including RNA-seq, miRNA and proteomic analysis to identify factors contributing to the degradation of a model recombinant molecule. We identified 19 recombinant Chinese hamster ovary clonally-derived cell lines producing various levels of truncated or clipped product from a fed-batch cell culture shake flask screen. These cell lines then underwent detailed analysis using the various ‘omic approaches to identify the key causal factors linked to truncation of …

Multi-Omic Modeling Of Translational Efficiency For Synthetic Gene Design, Joseph Longworth, Javier Gonzalez, Paul Dobson, Josselin Noirel, Neil Lawrence

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Controlled expression of recombinant genes in CHO cells for advanced cell engineering will require precise, coordinated control of the synthetic processes that underpin the production of specific recombinant products or the optimal stoichiometry of functional effector proteins for multigene engineering applications. Although control of recombinant gene transcription in CHO host cells is now possible, technologies that enable control of recombinant mRNA translation rate are lacking. This is undesirable as in eukaryotic cells, cellular mRNA concentration itself may only explain a relatively small proportion of the variation in cellular protein abundance; mRNA translation rate is by far the most important contributor …

Next Gen Car T Cells, Michael Jensen

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Recent conceptual as well as technological advances in the areas of molecular immunology, gene transfer, and cell processing have fostered increasingly sophisticated translational applications of adoptive T cell therapy for oncologic disease employing genetically-modified T-lymphocytes. My laboratory’s work focuses on T-cell genetic modification for re-directing antigen specificity to tumors utilizing recent advances not only in the composition and specificity of receptor antigen recognition domains, but also the evolution of multifunctional cytoplasmic signaling domains developed for these chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that provide dual activation and co-stimulatory signaling. My group is also investigating the context of adoptive transfer with respect to …

Scalable Production Of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells From Different Human Sources In Microcarrier-Based Stirred Culture Systems, Ana Fernandez

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) are promising candidates for cell based therapies and the development of microcarrier-based MSC cultures in scalable stirred bioreactors combined with well-defined serum-/xenogeneic (xeno)-free medium formulations represent important milestones for the clinical-scale production of human MSC. In this work, we optimized our previously established xeno-free microcarrier-based culture system, towards the large-scale production of human bone marrow (BM)-derived MSC and adipose tissue-derived stem/stromal cells (ASC) and we have established a stirred culture system combining gelatin-based microcarriers and xeno-free culture medium for the expansion of umbilical cord matrix (UCM)-derived MSC. In addition, we tested the ability of using …

Mab Product Consistency In Long Duration Microfiltration-Based Cho Perfusion Process, Douglas Rank, Patrick Mcinnis, Christopher Martin, Michael Phillips

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Perfusion processes have traditionally been used for the generation of unstable proteins in cell culture systems. The use of perfusion for production of stable proteins has been limited by low product concentration, media costs, and system complexity. However, with the advent of new single-use technology, cell culture media specifically formulated to support high density perfusion, and high-producing cell lines, perfusion processes are gaining widespread industry attention. Additionally, perfusion processes are considered an integral part of the “Factory of the Future” vision through enabling continuous processing while delivering a product effluent with consistent product quality and concentration.

In this study, we …

Expansion And Differentiation Of T Cells Under Defined Xeno-Free Culture Conditions, Jessie Ni

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Antigen specific suppressive immunotherapy such as Tregs therapy and highly selective targeted immunotherapy such as chimeric antigen receptor and T-cell receptor therapy have shown great benefits and therapeutic value to the patient population. These immunotherapy applications require ex vivo expansion of T cells to high cell densities without loss of T cell phenotypes and functionality for successful adoptive transfer. Moreover, a defined, xeno- and serum-free basal medium is ideal to reduce cost, limit variability and lower the risk of foreign contaminants.

By applying the quality by design approach, we report the successful development of a xeno- free basal medium containing …

A Bioinformatic Pipeline For Studying Ribosome Occupancy In Cho Cells, Shangzhong Li

Cell Culture Engineering XV

No abstract provided.

A Flow Cytometric Granularity Assay For The Quantification Of Infectious Virus, Megan Logan

Cell Culture Engineering XV

A need exists for rapid, low-cost, and accurate infectious viral quantification method in the bio-pharmaceutical field for the production of vaccines and virus-based therapeutics. Two of the most common and traditionally employed methods to quantify infectious viruses are plaque assays and cell culture infectious dose 50 (CCID₅₀); both are relatively inexpensive, however they can be time consuming and demonstrate significant variability between operators. Here we present a method to quantify infectious viruses using the post-infection granular changes within the cell using flow cytometry to create a more rapid and high throughput quantification method. To validate this method, a …

Increasing Diversity Of Production Cell Lines Through Miniaturization, Automation, And High-Throughput Analytics, Kim Le, Hannah Victor, Kristi Daris, Trent Munro

Cell Culture Engineering XV

The development of a successful biologic therapeutic manufacturing process begins with the creation of a stable clonal cell line. Since attributes of the production cell line will significantly impact upstream and downstream processes, researchers must find ways to generate several candidate lines with diverse properties. However, a wide diversity is difficult to achieve since cultures are commonly selected, maintained, and screened as populations. In these populations, robust sub-populations can overtake the overall culture and reduce diversity. To combat this, sub-populations must be physically separated by splitting or subcloning, and maintained in individual vessels requiring intensive labor and infrastructure. As a …

Use Of Quality By Design Principles For Development Of Upstream Process Control Strategy, Canghai Lu, Girish Pendse

Cell Culture Engineering XV

A systematic approach was developed using the QbD (Quality by Design) principles to study and characterize monoclonal antibody upstream production processes. This approach comprises of risk assessment of upstream process parameters, small scale model development and qualification, process characterization as well as the determination of CPPs (Critical Process Parameters) and PARs (Proven Acceptable Ranges). A high throughout analytical method to measure N-linked glycans and a Chemometric method to calibrate the results were developed in order to overcome the analytical bottleneck. These studies improved the process understanding, explored the multivariate interactions, and established the relationship between CPPs and CQAs (Critical Quality …

Targeting Product Quality: Where Systems Biotechnology And Process Design Meet, Markus Michael Muller, Jan Bechmann, Ingo Gorr, Harald Bradl, Jan Visser

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Product quality is a result of the entire production process including protein sequence, host cell, media and process parameters. Many of the desired product properties are defined by posttranslational modifications with impact on biological activity, immunogenicity, half-life or stability. In‑depth understanding of the host cells capabilities as well as of the process interactions enables the targeted modulation of product quality attributes by rational selection of host cells and design of bioprocesses. This is valuable for new biological molecules in order to improve efficacy, reduce side effects, access new patient populations. For biosimilars this allows developing into defined quality attribute profiles. …

Perfusion Media Development And Evaluation With Spin Tube And Ambr15 Highthroughput Small-Scale Models, Yang Wang, Shawn Barrett, Borka Naumovich, Jessica Nichols, Steve Gorfien

Cell Culture Engineering XV

For over 75 years, continuous manufacturing has been investigated in both academia and industry as an alternative to batch manufacturing. Perfusion is a well-recognized method for continuous production of biomolecules expressed in CHO cell culture and it is known to have certain advantages over batch and fed‑batch processes. The major advantage of perfusion processes is that a constant environment is provided to cells through continuous by-product removal and nutrient addition. However, it has proven to be challenging to apply high-throughput approaches routinely used in fed-batch process development while maintaining true continuous culture, and so semi-continuous methods have instead been pursued …

A Community Genome-Scale Model Of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Metabolism Identifies Differences In The Efficiency Of Resource Utilization For Various Bioprocesses, Hooman Hefzi

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Genome-scale models of metabolism have successfully been employed in many microbial and eukaryotic metabolic engineering efforts by guiding pathway engineering and media optimization. They have also been used to explore the genotype-phenotype relationship in mammalian cells. The publication of the genomic sequence for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells has allowed generation of genome-scale metabolic models (GeMs) for this organism. Here we have developed a high-quality community CHO GeM via careful reconciliation and manual curation of three independently developed CHO GeMs. This metabolic model, consisting of over 4000 metabolites and 6000 reactions, is capable of integrating proteomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic data …

Fluxomics: The Integration Of Metabolic Flux Analysis (Mfa) With Multivariate Data Analysis (Mvda) To Identify Key Process Parameters For Cho Cell Culture, Neil Templeton

Cell Culture Engineering XV

An integrated ¹³C-metabolic flux analysis (MFA)/fluxomics approach was conducted to characterize fed-batch, concentrated fed-batch, and perfusion modes of operation. While both the concentrated fed-batch and perfusion processes were independently represented by one metabolic quasi-steady-state, fed-batch metabolism was characterized by multiple. Intracellular flux maps were developed for all three operational modes. To elucidate the phenotype of peak specific productivity, the stationary phase of fed-batch was characterized by ¹³C-MFA. The metabolic network included glycolysis, the pentose-phosphate pathway, citric acid cycle, and various anaplerotic reactions. Anabolic demands for biomass, host cell protein (HCP), and IgG were accounted for. To identify potential …

Cell Therapy Manufacturing Strategies: Impact On Cost Of Goods, Cost Of Development And Commercialisation, Suzanne Farid

Cell Culture Engineering XV

Successful commercialisation of cell therapies will be underpinned by cost-effective, robust and scalable manufacturing processes, practical supply chain solutions for delivery to patients and early planning of reimbursement. UCL’s Decisional Tools team have developed advanced decision-support tools that effectively integrate concepts from bioprocess economics, risk analysis, and combinatorial optimization to address such challenges. This presentation will provide some of our most recent process economic insights from such models applied to current and future cell therapy manufacturing processes. Bottlenecks in upstream and downstream processes will be identified and the technical innovation required to bridge the gaps constraining commercialisation will be discussed. …