Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design

Abstract Optimizing operational conditions for complex biological systems used in life sciences research and biotechnology is an arduous task. Here, we apply a Bayesian Optimization-based iterative framework for experimental design to accelerate cell culture media development for two applications. F...

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Main Authors: Harini Narayanan, Joshua A. Hinckley, Rachel Barry, Brendan Dang, Lenna A. Wolffe, Adel Atari, Yuen-Yi Tseng, J. Christopher Love
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61113-5
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author Harini Narayanan
Joshua A. Hinckley
Rachel Barry
Brendan Dang
Lenna A. Wolffe
Adel Atari
Yuen-Yi Tseng
J. Christopher Love
author_facet Harini Narayanan
Joshua A. Hinckley
Rachel Barry
Brendan Dang
Lenna A. Wolffe
Adel Atari
Yuen-Yi Tseng
J. Christopher Love
author_sort Harini Narayanan
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Optimizing operational conditions for complex biological systems used in life sciences research and biotechnology is an arduous task. Here, we apply a Bayesian Optimization-based iterative framework for experimental design to accelerate cell culture media development for two applications. First, we show that this approach yields new compositions of media with cytokine supplementation to maintain the viability and distribution of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the culture. Second, we apply this framework to optimize the production of three recombinant proteins in cultivations of K.phaffii. We identified conditions with improved outcomes for both applications compared to the initial standard media using 3–30 times fewer experiments than that estimated for other methods such as the standard Design of Experiments. Subsequently, we also demonstrated the extensibility of our approach to efficiently account for additional design factors through transfer learning. These examples demonstrate how coupling data collection, modeling, and optimization in this iterative paradigm, while using an exploration-exploitation trade-off in each iteration, can reduce the time and resources for complex optimization tasks such as the one demonstrated here.
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issn 2041-1723
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spelling doaj-art-178d0ca223404d8297cba2f6702f4bd02025-08-20T03:03:37ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111410.1038/s41467-025-61113-5Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental designHarini Narayanan0Joshua A. Hinckley1Rachel Barry2Brendan Dang3Lenna A. Wolffe4Adel Atari5Yuen-Yi Tseng6J. Christopher Love7Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MITKoch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MITKoch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MITBroad Institute of MIT and HarvardBroad Institute of MIT and HarvardBroad Institute of MIT and HarvardBroad Institute of MIT and HarvardKoch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MITAbstract Optimizing operational conditions for complex biological systems used in life sciences research and biotechnology is an arduous task. Here, we apply a Bayesian Optimization-based iterative framework for experimental design to accelerate cell culture media development for two applications. First, we show that this approach yields new compositions of media with cytokine supplementation to maintain the viability and distribution of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the culture. Second, we apply this framework to optimize the production of three recombinant proteins in cultivations of K.phaffii. We identified conditions with improved outcomes for both applications compared to the initial standard media using 3–30 times fewer experiments than that estimated for other methods such as the standard Design of Experiments. Subsequently, we also demonstrated the extensibility of our approach to efficiently account for additional design factors through transfer learning. These examples demonstrate how coupling data collection, modeling, and optimization in this iterative paradigm, while using an exploration-exploitation trade-off in each iteration, can reduce the time and resources for complex optimization tasks such as the one demonstrated here.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61113-5
spellingShingle Harini Narayanan
Joshua A. Hinckley
Rachel Barry
Brendan Dang
Lenna A. Wolffe
Adel Atari
Yuen-Yi Tseng
J. Christopher Love
Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design
Nature Communications
title Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design
title_full Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design
title_fullStr Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design
title_full_unstemmed Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design
title_short Accelerating cell culture media development using Bayesian optimization-based iterative experimental design
title_sort accelerating cell culture media development using bayesian optimization based iterative experimental design
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-61113-5
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