Sartorius Stedim Biotech ambr 250 high throughput (ht) perfusion bioreactor system

Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) has announced the ambr 250 high throughput (ht) perfusion, an automated parallel bioreactor system. It has been specially designed for rapid cell culture perfusion process development to optimise production of therapeutic antibodies.

Developed in collaboration with major biopharma companies, the ambr 250ht perfusion system combines 12 or 24 single-use perfusion mini bioreactors (100–250 mL working volume) with associated single-use perfusion components, all controlled by one automated workstation. The combination of this multiparallel processing capacity and fully single-use perfusion vessel enables scientists to perform more perfusion culture experiments in a fraction of the time of traditional perfusion-enabled benchtop bioreactors, according to the company. The product supports a range of hollow fibre perfusion applications, enabling design of experiments (DoE) studies for high cell density process development in a quality by design (QbD) approach.

Central to the system is the perfusion bioreactor assembly, which is based on the established ambr 250 bioreactor design. Intensified cell culture processing is enabled via components such as high-efficiency spargers, perfusion pump chambers and a hollow fibre for cell retention filter. The geometrical similarity of the mini perfusion bioreactor design to BIOSTAT STR pilot and manufacturing scale bioreactors enables rapid scale-up of optimised perfusion processes, as well as short development timelines.

The perfusion system is simple to set up and use, due to the fully assembled and irradiated perfusion bioreactors which include all the essential components. This includes single-use sensors to continuously monitor pressure at the culture fluid inlet and permeate outlet, enabling online monitoring of transmembrane pressure, as well as parameters such as pH and DO.