Partnering with fellow German company Bluesens, Sartorius Stedim Biotech has added a new offering to its Process Analytical Technology (PAT) portfolio with a bioreactor sensor that measures the level of gases in microbial fermentation and cell cultivation processes.
Speaking with Biopharma-Reporter.com, Product Manager PAT at Sartorius Soenke Rosemann said biomanufacturers “need to monitor oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in bioreactors to ensure cells are healthy, to see what metabolic state they are in and how active they are,” without having to take samples and analyse them in a laboratory.
The sensor, he continued, also compensates for changes in humidity and pressure which skew the readings for oxygen and carbon dioxide, respectively, offering an advantage over other gas sensors on the market.
“There are many other gas sensors for oxygen and carbon dioxide out there, but only few specialized on fermentation offgas analysis.”
Though the sensors will be available to be used in single-use systems, Rosemann told us that for microbial cultivations, the industry has been slow to implement single-use technologies for two main reasons.
Firstly, “the kLa values [the determination and comparison of oxygen transfer rate] needed for microbial cultivations are harder to reach in single-use systems,” he said, and secondly “the cooling in single-use bags is not as effective as in glass and stainless steel bioreactors.”
The analyser has four sensors inside which will be manufactured by BlueSens from its facility in Herten, Germany and supplied to Sartorius who will sell it as part of its BioPAT Xgas range. No financial details of the partnership have been divulged.
New Single-Use Mammalian Bioreactor
Last month, Sartorius unveiled its second generation single-use bioreactor, the UniVessel SU. Suitable for the cultivation of mammalian cells - including stem cells, insect and plant cells – the system offers volumes ranging from 0.6-2L.
The ‘out-of-the-box’ system will be compatible with both Sartorius’ own bioreactor controller as well as those manufactured by other firms. It also includes single-use sensors for pH and dissolved oxygen measurement.