Cell culture bioreactor
First Claim
1. A bioreactor for cultivating living cells in a liquid culture medium comprising:
- a stationary vessel enclosing the cells and liquid culture medium, said vessel including oppositely spaced walls, said walls being inclined at an angle from the vertical so as to form an upper and a lower wall, said walls being tapered at their lower ends to form an apex; and
means for introducing a circulating gas at the apex such that the liquid culture medium and the cells are lifted with the gas upwardly along the upper wall, the gas disengages from the liquid culture medium at the upper wall, and the liquid culture medium and the cells fall downwardly along the lower wall.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a bioreactor for culturing living cells, particularly shear sensitive cells, wherein the bioreactor is composed of a stationary vessel with opposite spaced walls inclined at an angle to form upper and lower walls. Liquid culture medium and cell culture, such as hybridoma cells, are introduced into the vessel and gas is introduced at the lower end of the vessel to form gas bubbles which travel upward along the upper wall of the bioreactor to disengage from a small portion of the gas liquid interface. The gas bubbles circulate the cells and liquid medium, maintaining the cells in suspension and lifting them in a circulating path upwardly parallel to the upper wall and downward along the lower wall. The bioreactor design thus achieves bulk mixing and aeration by maintaining a significant degree of segregation between the upwardly travelling bubbles and the cells in the liquid medium avoiding unnecessary cell damage by fluid-mechanical shear or by bubble bursting events.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A bioreactor for cultivating living cells in a liquid culture medium comprising:
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a stationary vessel enclosing the cells and liquid culture medium, said vessel including oppositely spaced walls, said walls being inclined at an angle from the vertical so as to form an upper and a lower wall, said walls being tapered at their lower ends to form an apex; and means for introducing a circulating gas at the apex such that the liquid culture medium and the cells are lifted with the gas upwardly along the upper wall, the gas disengages from the liquid culture medium at the upper wall, and the liquid culture medium and the cells fall downwardly along the lower wall. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of culturing living cells, comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a vessel having oppositely spaced walls inclined at an angle to the vertical so as to form an upper and a lower wall, said walls being tapered at their lower ends to form an apex; (b) introducing a liquid culture medium and the cells to the vessel; (c) introducing a gas at the lower end of the walls at a rate sufficient to circulate the cells and liquid culture medium, such that the cells and the liquid culture medium are lifted with the gas upwardly along the upper wall, the gas disengages from the medium at the upper wall, and the cells and the liquid culture medium fall downwardly along the lower wall. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification