Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude

Abstract Background For process development in mammalian cell cultivations, scale-up approaches are essential. A lot of studies concern the scale transfer between different-sized stirred tank reactors. However, process development usually starts in even smaller cultivation vessels like microtiter pl...

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Main Authors: Anne Neuss, Thomas Steimann, Jacinta Sofia Tomas Borges, Robert Dinger, Jørgen Barsett Magnus
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Biological Engineering
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13036-024-00475-8
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author Anne Neuss
Thomas Steimann
Jacinta Sofia Tomas Borges
Robert Dinger
Jørgen Barsett Magnus
author_facet Anne Neuss
Thomas Steimann
Jacinta Sofia Tomas Borges
Robert Dinger
Jørgen Barsett Magnus
author_sort Anne Neuss
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background For process development in mammalian cell cultivations, scale-up approaches are essential. A lot of studies concern the scale transfer between different-sized stirred tank reactors. However, process development usually starts in even smaller cultivation vessels like microtiter plates or shake flasks. A scale-up from those small shaken devices to a stirred tank reactor is barely stated in literature for mammalian cells. Thus, this study aims to address data-driven scale-up for CHO DP12 cells. The oxygen transfer rate is used as a database. Results The cultivation conditions in microtiter plates and shake flasks are comparable when choosing the maximum oxygen transfer capacity as a scale-up parameter. The minimum cultivation volume was reduced to 400 µL in round and square 96-deep-well microtiter plates. Using a scale-up based on the maximum oxygen transfer capacity to a stirred tank reactor led to conditions with excessive hydromechanical stress. However, cultivation conditions could be reproduced in a stirred tank reactor by utilizing the volumetric power input as a scale-up parameter. Key metabolites behaved the same in all three scales and the final antibody titer was equal. Conclusion This study presents a successful replication of cultivation results for mammalian cells in microtiter plates, shake flasks and stirred tank reactors. The working volumes ranged from 0.4 to 50 and 600 mL. It offers the opportunity to adapt the method to other, more sensitive mammalian cells and to perform cost- and time-effective experiments in high-throughput.
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-9d3c7a2f03e44bc7b04cc9ecfa8aaefe2025-01-19T12:26:31ZengBMCJournal of Biological Engineering1754-16112025-01-0119111510.1186/s13036-024-00475-8Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitudeAnne Neuss0Thomas Steimann1Jacinta Sofia Tomas Borges2Robert Dinger3Jørgen Barsett Magnus4Biochemical Engineering (AVT.BioVT), RWTH Aachen UniversityBiochemical Engineering (AVT.BioVT), RWTH Aachen UniversityBiochemical Engineering (AVT.BioVT), RWTH Aachen UniversityBiochemical Engineering (AVT.BioVT), RWTH Aachen UniversityBiochemical Engineering (AVT.BioVT), RWTH Aachen UniversityAbstract Background For process development in mammalian cell cultivations, scale-up approaches are essential. A lot of studies concern the scale transfer between different-sized stirred tank reactors. However, process development usually starts in even smaller cultivation vessels like microtiter plates or shake flasks. A scale-up from those small shaken devices to a stirred tank reactor is barely stated in literature for mammalian cells. Thus, this study aims to address data-driven scale-up for CHO DP12 cells. The oxygen transfer rate is used as a database. Results The cultivation conditions in microtiter plates and shake flasks are comparable when choosing the maximum oxygen transfer capacity as a scale-up parameter. The minimum cultivation volume was reduced to 400 µL in round and square 96-deep-well microtiter plates. Using a scale-up based on the maximum oxygen transfer capacity to a stirred tank reactor led to conditions with excessive hydromechanical stress. However, cultivation conditions could be reproduced in a stirred tank reactor by utilizing the volumetric power input as a scale-up parameter. Key metabolites behaved the same in all three scales and the final antibody titer was equal. Conclusion This study presents a successful replication of cultivation results for mammalian cells in microtiter plates, shake flasks and stirred tank reactors. The working volumes ranged from 0.4 to 50 and 600 mL. It offers the opportunity to adapt the method to other, more sensitive mammalian cells and to perform cost- and time-effective experiments in high-throughput.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13036-024-00475-8Scale-upMicrotiter platesShake flasksStirred tank reactorCHO cellsOTR
spellingShingle Anne Neuss
Thomas Steimann
Jacinta Sofia Tomas Borges
Robert Dinger
Jørgen Barsett Magnus
Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
Journal of Biological Engineering
Scale-up
Microtiter plates
Shake flasks
Stirred tank reactor
CHO cells
OTR
title Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
title_full Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
title_fullStr Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
title_full_unstemmed Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
title_short Scale-up of CHO cell cultures: from 96-well-microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
title_sort scale up of cho cell cultures from 96 well microtiter plates to stirred tank reactors across three orders of magnitude
topic Scale-up
Microtiter plates
Shake flasks
Stirred tank reactor
CHO cells
OTR
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13036-024-00475-8
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