BIO09002 2008 FERMENTATION AND CELL CULTURE PROCESS

Identify and evaluate key factors that are involved in the design of an upstream bioprocessing system including which cell line to choose for a particular processing application and the cell-line storage conditions - cell banking and cell culture scale-up.

Evaluate and discuss the various designs of bioreactors available and their key features including relative advantages and disadvantages. Also describe the different options for media feeding systems.

Outline and evaluate the process kinetics relating to cell growth and productivity for a bioreactor process.

Identify and interpret the basic mass transfer details for heat, oxygen and carbon dioxide - also the mass and energy transfer balances within a bioreactor process.

Discuss and critically evaluate the different types of media available and their relative advantages and disadvantages.

Evaluate and communicate the concepts of product yield and process productivity and their implications for overall process economics - how to optimise a bioreactor process.

Describe the main aspects of bioreactor control and operation including the various instrumentation types involved.

The range of topics covered will include some of the following: cell line selection for optimal protein expression; cell banking and product scale-up; media selection and nutritional requirements; the process kinetics of cell growth and replication; the thermodynamic stoichiometric equations that apply for basic mass and energy transfer balances; basic mass transfer mechanisms for oxygen, carbon-dioxide and heat; bioreactor design types such as stirred tank reactors, fixed-bed, fluidized-bed, membrane and immobilized reactors; media feeding systems such as batch, fed-batch, continuous, continuous with cell recycle and perfusion; bioreactor instrumentation and controls both online and offline; product yield and productivity and their economic implications.