Expediting Lentiviral Vector Development With Automated Bioreactors And Design Of Experiments

By Finn Watt, MS, David Ede, MS, Michael Roberto, PhD, Stefanie Geiger, BS, Andy Kwok, PhD, Donald Traul, PhD, Vincent Lam, MS, Erik Chew, BS, Marlena Warner, MS, Érica A Schulze, PhD, Franziska Bollmann, PhD, Joshua Gustafson, PhD, and Michael Jensen, MD

The development of new lentiviral vector (LV) bioprocesses is often hindered by the challenges in determining optimal values for critical process parameters and the extensive time required for analytical assays. Additionally, collaboration with external manufacturing partners can further prolong the development timeline. However, the ability to make precise, data-driven product estimations can significantly accelerate these timelines. Seattle Children's Therapeutics (SCTx), leveraging the tools and expertise from Sartorius, has successfully developed a new in-house LV upstream production process for their VectorWorks program. By applying design of experiments (DOE) methodologies in conjunction with automated multi-way bioreactors, specifically the Ambr® 15, SCTx was able to conduct rapid and efficient experimentation.

Discover how this approach enabled them to identify ideal operating conditions that could be directly scaled up to a 50 L Biostat STR® bioreactor to streamline the development process and enhance productivity.