(432b) A 24-Well Plate Microbioreactor Array for High-Throughput Cell Culture Process Development

We have designed and fabricated a novel plate-based 24-well microbioraector array for high-throughput cell culture process development. Each well of the plate has a set of observation windows at the bottom, where optical detection methods can be used for monitoring cell number, pH and dissolved oxygen with corresponding sensors in a commercially available plate reader. Good mixing was achieved by a center stir pillar in each well under agitated conditions. This plate also features two membranes as bottom and lid which are highly permeable to non-polar gases, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, critical for high density cell culture. With these membranes, in addition, low evaporation of water from each well can also be achieved. Suspension culture can be grown to a viable cell density as high as over 2 million cells/mL with the microplate. Using experimental design techniques, we also developed and optimized a serum-free medium for CHO cell culture in the microplate. This platform is a useful high-throughput scale-down model for cell culture process development.