Multi-chamber single-use bioreactor– A proof of concept prototype.

Stirred tank single-use bioreactors have proven their capability to successfully replace their stainless-steel counterparts in the biopharmaceutical industry. To date, however, only a five-fold volume expansion is achievable in a single-use stirred tank bioreactor, which in turn, necessitates intermediate equipment to scale up the culture to production volume. This study introduces a two-chamber single-use bioreactor that is capable of cell culture expansion from 1 to 50 L. The prototype is a proof of concept that can help users save costs of purchase and qualification of equipment, reduce factory footprint, and reduce the risk of contamination during culture transfer from one intermediate bag to another. The prototype is made of two chambers of different volumes, interconnected as a single, closed system. The design and construction of the prototype is described in detail and results from the engineering characterization (e.g., mixing time, power input per unit volume, and oxygen mass transfer coefficient) are reported for both chambers. The results are in good agreement with general criteria proposed in literature for bioreactor design and with published data for commercially available bioreactors. Further, the concept is not limited to the two-chamber design presented in this study; additional chambers can be integrated along with different volumes, geometries, mixing, sparging, and heating approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]