Microcarrier-Based Production Of Dengue Virus In An Optimized Animal-Free Virus Production Medium

Microcarriers have been a mainstay production platform for vaccine production for decades. They are used for production of both human and animal vaccines. However, many processes still use animal derived components in their manufacturing processes. The use of undefined components in animal product-free (APF) cell culture media is one source of variability in cell culture processes. Therefore a production medium optimized for use with microcarrier-based production systems would be desirable.

In these studies, a hydrolysate-free and APF, Vero cell production medium that is ideal for use in stirred-tank vessels with Sartorius SoloHill® microcarriers was developed. During development, medium formulations were optimized through an iterative process in concert with various microcarrier types to support robust cell growth and virus production in small-scale spinners. Further optimization then occurred in larger bioreactors.

Read how microcarriers provide an economical and robust platform for vaccine production using adherent cell types. The microcarrier-based animal component free platform described here is ready to be implemented for large scale vaccine production reactors.