Scaling Down For Success: Optimizing Single-Use Virus Filtration For Small-Scale Bioprocessing

By Roman Zhuravlev, senior product development engineer, Asahi Kasei Bioprocess

Small-scale viral filtration remains largely manual, leaving process execution dependent on operator technique and creating risks for product loss, variability, and incomplete data capture. While manual approaches remain valuable during early experimentation, automation becomes increasingly beneficial once filtration conditions are sufficiently defined. Automated systems can encode process knowledge into standardized workflows, reducing dependence on individual expertise while improving execution and documentation. Recipe-driven operation and automated monitoring can also capture parameters such as pressure and flow, generating structured data that supports process understanding and later development.

Automation can further improve recovery by reducing hold-up and streamlining transitions between filtration and recovery steps. Importantly, automated platforms should preserve flexibility for different products, batch volumes, filters, and operating requirements rather than imposing a fixed process. Single-use architectures can add further advantages by simplifying changeovers and reducing cleaning requirements. Automation does not replace process development, validation, or appropriate quality controls, but it can provide a more reliable framework for executing established processes. As gene therapy manufacturing matures, bringing greater discipline, data capture, and operational consistency to small-scale viral filtration can help developers carry process knowledge forward while protecting valuable product and reducing the burden of repeated manual execution.