Rommel Suratos, Nathan McKnight, and Srikanth Chary. Late Stage Cell Culture, Genentech, Inc., 1 DNA Way, M/S 75B, South San Francisco, CA 94080
The µ-24 (Micro-24) from MicroReactor Technologies, Inc. is a 24-well shaken plate system designed to simulate large scale bioreactor cultures (³ 2L) using a 5-7 mL working volume. Each well has individual controls for pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and temperature; a distinct advantage over traditional shake flask cultures. The µ-24 has shown success growing microbial cultures (e.g. bacteria and yeast), but adaptation of the µ-24 to mammalian cell culture is not simply a matter of growing the cultures for longer durations. Culture duration as well as other notable differences (e.g. growth rate, gas requirements, media composition, etc.) are challenges that have required modifications to the process parameters and to the µ-24 platform technology. This work will present some of the challenges we encountered adapting the µ-24 platform for use with mammalian cell culture, a comparison of the µ-24 to other culture platforms (e.g. 2L bioreactors, shakeflasks, etc.) and potential future uses for the µ-24.
