Innovative Bioreactor Systems for Enhancing Vero Cell growth

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1 Innovative Bioreactor Systems for Enhancing Vero Cell growth Kamal Rashid, Ph.D. Director & Research Professor Biomanufacturing Education & Training Center Worcester Polytechnic Institute Massachusetts, USA Cphl Worldwide October 24 th, 2017 Messe, Frankfort Germany

2 Cell Culture Products Viral Vaccine Biopharma ceutical Proteins (Biologics) Monoclonal Antibody Production

3 Why Vero Cells? Vero cells are known for stability Vero cell lines are well documented for performance and quality of the yield Received US FDA and other regulatory agencies approval. Acceptable Worldwide as a well established cell line most attractive for cell-based vaccine production Other cell lines: *MDCK *Per C6 *SF9

4 Rational Viral diseases are a challenge to the World biomedical communities Influenza is a major cause of concern Possibility of a pandemic & stock piles Cell-based vaccines takes shorter lead time Bioreactor systems are available for scale-up Problems with egg-based vaccines: Low titer Problems with availability of high quality, pathogen free eggs

5 Specific Objectives Provide detailed studies on the utility of a packedbed bioreactor systems for the production of vaccines utilizing Vero cells as a model for anchorage dependent cell lines. Compare the single-use bioreactor system- Eppendorfs BioBLU R- to the traditional re-usable bioreactors. Demonstrate the advantages of the packed-bed system in a semi-continuous mode of operation for long-term growth of Vero Cells.

6 Experimental Approach Vero Cell Process Development Media Selection DMEM+ 5% FBS Bioreactor Selection Packed-Bed Cell Line Selection Vero

7 Medium DMEM ( GlutaMAX TM )Media was used for high density growth of Vero cells. Contains 4.1 g/l Glucose Supplemented with: 5% FBS from Gibco- Reduced % Pre-supplemented with stable form of L- Glutamine that prevent ammonia build-up

8 Cells Vero Cells. African Green Monkey Kidney cells (Vero 76 ATCC 158) were utilized in this study. Vero cells are anchorage dependent cells. Typically grown on T-Flasks and Roller Bottles. For scale up, microcarriera are used in a pitched-blade bioreactor. There are no published records of growing Vero cells in the Packed-Bed bioreactor system.

9 Vero Cells and Vaccine Production Vero cells have been used extensively in vaccine production since the They are also utilized in the detection of verotoxins that are the cause of hemorhagic syndrome in humans. Vero cells are susceptible to a wide variety of viruses including: Polioviruses, Simian Viruses, Rubellaviruse Adenoviruses, Influenza viruses

10 Packed-Bed Basket Technology Stirred Tank Technology Cell Immobilization Technology Combines the Best of Both Technologies Basket Technology

11 Packed-Bed Bioreactors Magnetically coupled bearing housing Medium inlet tube Foam elimination cage (special design) Draft tube Aeration cage (special design) Ring sparger Gas in Harvest tube Medium lift impeller Packed bed - basket with Fibra-Cel disks

12 The Basket Design

13 Fibra-Cel Disks Surface area of Fibra-Cel disks 1,200 cm 2 /g Packe-Bed bioreactor 1.7L working volume provides 102,000 cm 2 which is: Equal to 120 roller bottles (850 cm 2 ) Equal to 453 T-flasks (225cm 2 ) Equal to 4080 T-flasks (25cm 2 ) o

14 Seed Train Development

15 Packed-Bed Bioreactor System MIXING & MASS TRANSFER The impeller rotation creates negative pressure in the hollow impeller tube causing medium to circulate uniformly over the entire basket Advantages: - Reduced shear force - High mass transfer of nutrients - Can use with suspension cells as well as anchorage dependent cells

16 Experimental Approach Vero cells were seeded directly into the Bioreactor in Medium Seeding Cell Density 1 x 10 5 cells/ml Perfusion started three days after seeding the Packed-Bed Bioreactor 30 minutes were allowed for complete entrapment Impeller speed initially set to 40 rpm The experiment continued for 21 days with periodic glucose addition or media exchanges.

17 The Comparative Study: Blue vs Glass

18 Growth Parameters Temperature set at 37 0 C Dissolved Oxygen (DO) set at 40% saturation ph set at 7.1 Agitation set at 80 rpm Air Flow: SLPM

19 Measured Variables Growth: Daily glucose up-take: calculate total glucose consumed in 24 hours Daily Lactate production: calculate total lactate produced in 24 hours Cedex Bio from Roche Custom Biotech was utilized in Glucose and Lactate measurement Growth and viability in T-Flasks during seed train development were measured utilizing Cedex Cell Analyzer

20 Results

21 Glucose Up-Take HOURS IN CULTURE GLUCOSE CONSUMPTION FEEDING SCHEDULE Glucose feed shot Media Exchange Glucose feed shot Media Exchange Glucose feed shot Media Exchange Glucose feed shot Media Exchange Glucose feed shot

22 Glucose and Lactate Concentrations

23 Total glucose consumption (Gluc total ) in the glass and the single-use bioreactor-21 days

24 Grams of glucose consumed hourly (Gluc total /h)

25 Glucose consumption per measurement interval (Gluc i ) plotted against time

26 Calculated cell density (X106 cells/ml) Glucose Consumption Rate to Cell Density 45 Calculated Vero cell growth curve Time (day) From Han and Sha Application Note 2017

27 Concluding Remarks Bench-top packed-bed bioreactors are ideal for small batch sized productions especially with Vero cell or for vaccine production. Statistically they are similar to the pitched-blade bioreactors in terms of cell growth. Production can be enhanced significantly in perfusion mode with packed-bed basket technology: No reseeding with new batches of cells required as in Pitched blade, saves time and effort Reduced chance of contamination Reduced chance of loss of viability Virus production can become continuous with the amount of space available for new cells to attach to

28 Packed-Bed Process for Vero Cells High cell density- Increased surface area. Disks remain stationary Cells grow in a 3-D environment Little Shear effects Medium exchange without cell loss Packing density: 50% of vessel working volume Bottom line: Vero Cell can be efficiently expanded in packed-bed bioreactors with Fibra-Cel disks as growth support even with lower seeding densities

29 CHO Cells in the Packed Bead Bioreactor Cell Culture Process Development Media Optimization - Invitrogen - CD-CHO Medium Bioreactor Selection -Pitched-Blade -Packed-Bed Expression System rcho Cell Line

30 Packed-Bed vs Pitch Blade Packed-Bed Bioreactor Pitched-Blade Bioreactor

31 Project Timeline Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7-15 Seed 5x10 5 Cells/ml Glu/Lac & Cell Count Induce Pre & Post Glu/Lac & Cell Count Glu/Lac & Cell Count Seed 5x10 5 Cells/ml Glucose & Lactate Levels Perfusion ½L Pre & Post Glu/Lac Perfusion 1L Pre & Post Glu/Lac Perfusion 2L Induce Pre & Post Glu/Lac Glu & Lac Perfusion 2L E.O.D. Pre & Post Glu/Lac

32 Growth and Production Patterns Batch Periodic Exchange Cells,substrate,products time Cells,substrate,products time

33 Glucose up-take: Pitched-Blade/ Packed-Bed (A) single-use [CelliGen BLU]; and (B) reusable [glass]. From: Taylor, Barnett & Rashid, Bioprocessing J. 2013

34 ALKP Production rcho Cells ALKP production in pitched-blade (Batch) or packed-bed bioreactor systems (perfusion) mode of operation. Values are average of two trials independent trials for each experiment From: Taylor, Barnett & Rashid, Bioprocess J. 2012

35 Acknowledgments Joseph Duffy; Chris Bellerive; Dan Mardirosian; Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA Shannon Guertin; AbbVie, Inc. Worcester, MA Ma Sha; Eppendorf, Inc. Enfield, CT

36 Thank You Questions??