Investigation of parameters affecting a fixed bed bioreactor process for recombinant cell lines

A BHK 21 cell line expressing a recombinant antibody was grown in a fixed bed reactor (FBR) system using a porous support made of Siran glass beads. The contribution of five process variables (bead and inoculum sizes; circulation and dilution rates; glutamine concentration of the feed) to the productivity of the process (defined as production rate, effluent product concentration or yield of product on medium supplied) was investigated using a partial factorial experimental design. Individually, none of the variables tested had a significant affect upon productivity. The combination of smaller bead and inoculum sizes, higher circulation and dilution rates, plus higher feed glutamine concentration gave a markedly higher productivity than any other combination of variable levels tested. This combination of variable levels suggested that better results shold be obtained using a fluidised bed reactor system. However, comparison of the productivities of the two systems showed that the FBR gave the better results. This result can be explained in terms of the relationship of QsrAb to μ.