Single-use components and systems have been incorporated into many bioprocesses as an alternative to cleanable, reusable systems. A wide range of publications have detailed the reasons for this trend toward a single-use approach. Justification in many cases comes from process-specific benefits such as increased manufacturing flexibility — especially for contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) — enhanced sterility assurance, elimination of cleaning, reduced capital investment, faster processing times with increased productivity, faster start-up, and other benefits (1). One critical factor in the…
Author Archives: Bojan Isailovic
Performance Qualification of a Single-Use, Stirred-Tank Bioreactor with CHO-S Cell Culture
The increasing role and importance of cell culture in biophamaceutical manufacturing has led to considerable research and development (R&D) into bioreactor design and performance in recent years. As a result, a greater understanding of bioreactor fluid dynamics and critical physical parameters is now essential to maximize cell growth and productivity. Stirred-tank bioreactors are especially important in this development process because of their favorable properties in areas such as mixing efficiency and homogeneity, energy transfer, and scalability. The design and manufacture…
Fluid Dynamics of a Single-Use, Stirred-Tank Bioreactor for Mammalian Cell Culture
The benefits of single-use technologies in both upstream and downstream operations are now widely acknowledged by the biopharmaceutical industry, and have led to radical changes in the design and operation of many bioprocesses. Those changes typically provide more robust processes and increased production flexibility. For mammalian cell culture, cleanable multiuse glass or stainless steel stirred-tank reactors (STRs) have been used successfully for growth of suspension-adapted cell lines in both small- and large-scale systems. However, achieving the same or better performance…
An Approach to Design and Performance Testing of an Impeller-Driven Single-Use Mixer
Single-use technology is now well established for many bioprocessing unit operations, including sterile filtration and product storage, where it provides specific benefits such as elimination of cleaning and cleaning validation, reduced risk of contamination, and enclosed systems for safer handling. Recently, single-use technology has been introduced into more complex unit operations such as purification by chromatography (1), tangential-flow filtration (2), and mixing systems. More complex processing steps, however, present a challenging task for developers of single-use products. Mixing…