Intensification of cell culture process for pandemic influenza vaccine production

More than half a million people die every year from complications of seasonal influenza, and vaccination stands as the most effective method to prevent and limit outbreaks of the disease. Cell culture processes offer a more flexible and responsive alternative for the current egg-based vaccine production systems. Intensification of cell-based vaccine manufacturing focus on the development of high cell density processes and perfusion-based strategies. Here, a high-innoculum fed-batch (HIFB) process with continuous virus harvest will be applied for pandemic influenza vaccine production in suspension MDCK cells, as to maximize virus production while minimizing media handling. For this, a set of small-scale experiments will be executed to assess the metabolic demands. Two bioreactor runs, using a single-use bioreactor coupled to a scalable single-use hollow-fiber membrane as cell retention device, will be performed to demostrate the scalability of the system.

Faculty Supervisor:

Olivier Henry

Student:

Partner:

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Biotechnology

University:

Polytechnique Montréal

Program: