Continuous Online Protein Quality Monitoring during Perfusion Culture Production Using an Integrated Micro/Nanofluidic System

Anal Chem. 2020 Apr 7;92(7):5267-5275. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b05835. Epub 2020 Mar 24.

Abstract

We demonstrate a new micro/nanofluidic system for continuous and automatic monitoring of protein product size and quantity directly from the culture supernatant during a high-cell-concentration CHO cell perfusion culture. A microfluidic device enables clog-free cell retention for a bench-scale (350 mL) perfusion bioreactor that continuously produces the culture supernatant containing monoclonal antibodies (IgG1). A nanofluidic device directly monitors the protein size and quantity in the culture supernatant. The continuous-flow and fully automated operation of this nanofluidic protein analytics reduces design complexity and offers more detailed information on protein products than offline and batch-mode conventional analytics. Moreover, chemical and mechanical robustness of the nanofluidic device enables continuous monitoring for several days to a week. This continuous and online protein quality monitoring could be deployed at different steps and scales of biomanufacturing to improve product quality and manufacturing efficiency.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • CHO Cells
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cricetulus
  • Lab-On-A-Chip Devices*
  • Nanotechnology*
  • Perfusion*
  • Proteins / analysis*

Substances

  • Proteins