S27: Expansion of Micro-24 Process Development Capability – New Low pH Consumables

Data-driven strain evaluation has long been a bottleneck in the development pipeline.  The Pall Micro-24 System seeks to address this bottleneck by increasing the density of relevant data while keeping costs down.  To maximize efficiency, single use vessels and sensors are employed, minimizing the effort of experimental turnover.  However, historically single use pH sensor technologies have been limiting, with robust visibility only in the pH 6 – 8 range.  To expand the pH range for microbial processes, new fluorescent chemistries were evaluated for their visibility in the range of pH 2 – 6.  A new chemistry was identified with robust visibility from pH 3.5 – 5.5.  Quality attributes such as drift, accuracy and stability were evaluated and found to be similar or superior to existing sensor materials.  New sensors were integrated into standard and headspace gassing cassettes and successfully used for low pH cultivation of S. cerevisae and E. coli.