High Productivity Eukaryotic Cell Culture Technology

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目的目标是开发一种方法来提高真核细胞的产量和细胞质量，用于研究和药物发现。我们有初步的数据表明，我们已经开发出一种基于中性浮力水凝胶的微载体工艺，可以显著提高研究人员可用细胞的密度、活力和多样性，同时处理它们有限的空间，并提高生产力需求。我们新颖的基于微载体的细胞培养过程允许锚定依赖细胞从生长介质直接转移到分析过程中，而无需使用胰蛋白酶（或其他方法）从其锚定表面去除细胞。我们的微载体是光学透明的，不表现出任何自身荧光，因此它们是基于光的显微镜和体外荧光研究的理想选择。我们已经证明，微载体的密度可以通过添加玻璃泡和顺磁性颗粒来控制，从而在不使用叶轮的情况下允许悬浮液生长。非接触磁操作允许整个细胞生长过程与实验室自动化一起使用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goals of this project are to develop a method to increase eukaryotic cell production and cell quality for research and drug discovery. We have preliminary data that demonstrates that we have developed a neutral buoyancy hydrogel based microcarrier process that can dramatically increase the density, viability, and diversity of cells available to researchers while dealing with their limited space and increase productivity needs. Our novel microcarrier based cell culture process allows anchorage dependent cells to be transferred from the growth media directly into an analytical process without the need to use trypsin (or other means) to remove cells from their anchorage surface. Our microcarriers are optically clear and do not exhibit any autofluorescence, thus they are ideal for light based microscopy and in vitro fluorescence studies. We have demonstrated that the density of the microcarriers can be manipulated though the addition of glass bubbles and paramagnetic particles to allow suspension growth without the use of impellers. Non-contact magnetic manipulation permits the entire cell growth process to be used with laboratory automation. Given our preliminary data, this proposal is centered on three specific aims: 1. We will refine our preliminary method for producing neutral buoyancy microcarriers that are optimized for the growth of a variety of prostate cancer and bladder cancer cells in order to make them microcarriers available to cancer center research scientists for user feedback. 2. We will culture cells on our novel microcarriers in order to measure cell viability, density, and morphology. 3. We will develop a conceptual framework for the design of an automated cell culture system based on our many years of experience in laboratory automation and cell culture. Our novel neutral density microcarriers will improve the productivity, quality, and availability of eukaryotic cells for research scientists.