U.S.-U.K.-Cooperative Research: Optimization and Scale-up of Animal Cell Bioreactors

该奖项将支持弗吉尼亚大学生物工艺/产品开发中心的Donald Kirwan博士和英国萨里大学工艺生物技术项目的John M.Smith教授之间的合作研究。这两个研究小组都在研究用于动物细胞培养的改良反应器。对动物细胞培养中的单抗、治疗性蛋白、疫苗和其他高价值产品的需求增加，要求开发高效的大规模加工方法。这项建议涉及在两个专门从事这项活动的小组之间开展合作研究工作。联合研究将集中在两个主题上：1)生物反应器中剪切应力场的测量和建模；(2)扩散在影响固定化动物细胞生产率中的作用。第一个项目将涉及对充气生物反应器中气泡聚合事件产生的湍流剪切的调查。对剪切场的了解将直接应用于动物细胞的培养。第二个项目将涉及营养物质、氧气和细胞调节剂在动物细胞填充的凝胶颗粒中的扩散和反应。生物化学物质的浓度和随时间变化的模式对细胞生产力可能很重要。研究人员将根据凝胶中的扩散系数、细胞摄取率和自由细胞培养中调节剂的影响的数据来模拟这种现象。

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Donald Kirwan of the Bioprocess/Product Development Center at the University of Virginia and Professor John M. Smith of the Process Biotechnology Program at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. Both of these research groups are investigating improved reactors for animal cell culture. The increased demand for monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, vaccines, and other high value products of animal cell culture requires that efficient larger scale processing methods be developed. This proposal deals with the initiation of a cooperative research effort between two groups devoted to this activity. The joint research will focus on two topics: 1) The measurement and modeling of shear stress fields in bioreactors and (2) the role of diffusion in influencing the productivity of immobilized animal cells. The first project will involve the investigation of the turbulent shear created by bubble coalesence events in aerated bioreactors. The understanding of shear fields will be directly applicable to the culturing of animal cells. The second project will involve diffusion and reaction of nutrients, oxygen, and cell regulators in animal cell-filled gel particles. The concentrations and time varying patterns of biochemicals can be important to cell productivity. The researchers will model this phenomena based upon data on diffusivities in gels, cell uptake rates, and the influence of regulators in free cell cultures.