Novel Compact Cell Settlers For Continuous Perfusion Bioreactor Cultures Of Microbial (and mammalian) Cells

Dhinakar Kompala, Sudhin Biopharma Company
Brian Batt, Sudhin Biopharma Company

Abstract

About 25 years ago, we first demonstrated the use of inclined settlers for selective removal of dead cells and cell debris and complete recycle of live and productive cells back to perfusion bioreactors with murine hybridoma cells (Batt et al., 1990) and Chinese hamster ovary cells (Searles et al., 1994). These devices have been scaled up as lamellar settlers (Probstein and Yung, 1979) and applied successfully over the last two decades for commercial manufacture of several therapeutic biologics in high cell density continuous perfusion bioreactor cultures of recombinant mammalian cells by different biotech companies. However, the rectilinear scale up of inclined settlers into lamellar settlers is not very efficient and creates a large footprint. Further, this powerful cell retention technology has not so far been demonstrated or applied for successful retention of microbial cells to our knowledge.

As microbial secretory expression systems have now become well developed for some larger microbial cells, such as yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris cells, it is now possible to develop high cell density continuous perfusion cultures of microbial yeast cells. While the previously demonstrated inclined or lamellar settlers can be used for such perfusion bioreactors for microbial cells, the size and footprint requirements of such inefficiently scaled up devices can be quite large in comparison to the bioreactor size. Faced with this constraint, we have now developed novel patent-pending compact cell settlers that can be coupled more efficiently with microbial perfusion bioreactors.