Bioprocessing Laboratory

Summary

The new bioprocessing laboratory adds capability to model industrialized processes used for expanding cellular materials.  Staff can leverage this state-of-the-art cell culture laboratory to produce sufficient material from frozen vials, single clones or other cultures for high quality experiments or as starting reagents for cell-based reference materials.  Process control measurements in the laboratory focus on cell count, population size distributions, morphology, viability, identity and impurities.  The instruments in this laboratory are connected to the NIST research network to enable Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMSs) links to data files characteristic of the cell expansion process.  These quality tools are being applied to two use-cases:  1) expanding engineered vector copy number cells as possible reference materials and 2) differentiation of colony-based induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).

Description

Current Capabilities

• Computer controlled liquid nitrogen biostorage system
• Two culture areas including
  • 4 monitored CO2 incubators
  • 2 Six-foot BSLII biosafety cabinets
• Measurements- cell count and concentration, STR typing, flow cytometry, cell volume size distribution, conventional transmission and epifluorescent microscopy images, automated microscopy system for repeat and large field of view images, mycoplasma contamination, cell viability.
• Network accessible instrument files from incubators, microscopes, cell counter and environment monitors
• Automated liquid delivery systems to accommodate producing cell cultures in multiwell plates.
• Modular and movable lab design can accommodate alternative cell culture platforms and process layouts (i.e. reactor, stirrer)