Kudos once again to our IBC colleagues for another excellent BioProcess International Conference and Exposition. Throughout the week of 31 October–4 November 2011, more than 1,400 attendees and 125 exhibitors engaged in lively discussions on critical issues affecting our industry. The Long Beach, CA, convention center proved to be a comfortable and accessible venue for multiple session tracks, technical workshops, and seminars. Among the trends and topics that made frequent appearances in presentations were the ongoing challenges in developing chemically defined media, the expanding use of disposables into complete (or nearly complete) manufacturing processes, and the increasing interest in continuous processing.

My editorial staff and I appreciate chances to meet one-on-one with our authors, advisors, and advertisers. And we had quite a lot to talk about with everyone! As BPI (the magazine) heads into its tenth volume in 2012, we are planning a number of special activities to celebrate our decade of publishing — more about those (including a new BPI mobile app) in our January issue!

A regular feature of the BPI conferences is our Best Poster award program. At each event, members of the magazine’s editorial advisory board select two winning posters: one from a vendor and one from a user company. This represents a large commitment on the part of those judges, and I cannot thank them enough for their excellent work. The judges this year were Fred Mann (Merck-Millipore), Bill Whitford (Thermo Fisher Scientific), and Adriana Manzi (Atheln).

Each poster is evaluated based on the timeliness of the technology presented, its relevance to current industry needs, and its technical reproducibility and/or commercial availability. Winning presentations are those that help move the industry closer toward realizing current goals — in this case, toward “faster, safer, cheaper” manufacturing. The layout/format of each poster and the quality of its data and rhetoric are important factors, though not the sole criteria for the final decisions.

This year, the best poster award for a supplier company went to William Miller of Flownamics and his coauthors for “Improving Cell Culture Productivity with a SEG-FLOW Automated Online Sampling and Feed System.” The judges deemed that this technology will drive improvements in cell-culture production. Pictured below are editorial advisors Bill Whitford and Adriana Manzi, William Miller, and myself.

Winning Supplier's Abstract: Process analytical technology tools such as online nutrient and metabolite analysis can significantly increase process understanding while improving process control and performance. For this study, the SEG-FLOW automated bioreactor sampling and feed system (SEG-FLOW) was evaluated for its impact on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell culture process performance. Cell-free samples were obtained from a bench-scale bioreactor through a FISP sampling probe and subsequently delivered to a YSI 2700 biochemistry analyzer for glucose analysis. Glucose concentration data were communicated from the analyzer to the SEG-FLOW system for feed algorithm calculation and feed pump control. Media glucose levels were maintained at the desired setpoint using a semi-continuous feed scheme programmed by the SEG-FLOW software. A second batch, using a daily manual sampling and bolus feed protocol, was performed as a control. Compared with the conrol, the SEG-FLOW system provided optimal glucose feeding (which allowed a greater carbon conversion efficiency that reduced glucose uptake requirements), increased peak and total viable cell concentrations, and increased protein yield. Reduced lactate production was also achieved, which reduced base addition requirements and lowered media osmolality. The SEG-FLOW system provided an innovative approach for improving cell culture productivity through better process monitoring and control while increasing process knowledge and understanding through real-time sample analysis.

The winning poster from a user company was by Marcella Yu, Ben Wright, Chengbin Lin, Rahul Godawat, Sujit Jain, Veena Warikoo, Frank Riske, Konstantin Konstantinov, and Weichang Zhou, of Genzyme (a Sanofi company) for “Continuous Monoclonal Antibody Production and Purification Using High Density Perfusion Cell Culture and Protein A Periodic Counter-Current Chromatography.” The judges felt that this work significantly helps define future approaches to continuous processing. Pictured below (left to right) are editorial advisor Bill Whitford, Rahul Godawat and Marcella Yu (both of Genzyme), editorial advisor Adriana Manzi, and myself.

Winning User's Abstract: The current major industrial platform for the production of monoclonal antibodies is fed-batch cell culture followed by purification using a capture column in batch mode. Typically used for the production of unstable recombinant proteins, perfusion cell culture processes offer many advantages for monoclonal antibody production such as continuous nutrient supply and removal of waste products, high cell density and productivity, and potentially small bioreactor size. For this study, perfusion cell culture processes were conducted in 12-L bioreactors using an antibody-producing CHO cell line to demonstrate the ability of producing a monoclonal antibody continuously for over 60 days. Two different cell-separation devices were evaluated: an alternating tangential flow (ATF) unit and an inclined cell settler. The harvest collected from the ATF bioreactor was captured continuously for 29 days by periodic counter-current chromatography (PCC) using protein A resin. Proof-of-concept using a PCC system for capture demonstrated the ability to increase resin capacity by 25% compared with traditional protein A column operated in batch mode. These results demonstrated potential benefits of a perfusion cell culture platform coupled with PCC for antibody manufacturing.

I congratulate the winners once again and thank them for their work to further the success of this industry.

--S. Anne Montgomery
BPI editor in chief