Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Napoleon Ballroom C-D, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
Bioprocessing is a meticulous endeavor and efficient methods are necessary to maximize carbon and energy utilization to minimize “waste”, and take full advantage of capacity and resources. Maximizing the production of proteins, biomolecules and biofuels in cell culture and fermentation systems remains empirical and requires multiple rounds of systematic analysis to resolve issues pertaining to production and product quality. Metabolomic profiling provides information regarding the biochemical characterization of a system and analysis of small molecules provide early indication of ensuing phenotypic changes, improving strain design and selection, process development and scale-up to improve overall productivity. Metabolon’s global metabolomics platform is used to gain knowledge of biochemicals affecting cell metabolism at all stages of bioprocess development and production and in a large variety of expression systems including bacteria, yeast, algae and mammalian cells. Global and untargeted profiling allows for the detection of the maximum number of metabolites in a system and tracking these changes over time can resolve potential interactions/cross-talk between pathways, and between expression host and fermentation media. Systems become deprived of specific metabolites, others are catabolized to substitute for the depleted metabolites. Changes in biochemical profiles can be correlated to performance data (e.g. production over time, cell viability, pH) to strengthen biomarker identification. Additionally, biochemical profiling of raw materials/feedstock such as base and feed media components can identify differences which can be correlated to fermentor performance. Changes in the biochemical profile can be utilized, and integrated in bioprocessing and fermentation to improve productivity, process robustness and quality.