Advantages
- Increased antibody production
- High efficiency cell manufacturing process
- Cell-encapsulated hydrogel fiber production technology that facilitates easy scale-up
Technology Overview & Background
With the expanding market for mammalian cell culture for antibody production and cell therapies, the development of stable and cost-effective culture systems is essential. For example, while high-density culture systems for antibody-producing cells are among the existing production methods, they face several challenges, including cell damage caused by agitation, necrosis within cell aggregates, and reduced antibody production capacity due to overgrowth.
In contrast, the method of encapsulating cells in the core layer of core-shell hydrogel fibers minimizes physical stress on the cells, prevents necrosis within cell aggregates, supplies oxygen and nutrients to internal cells, facilitates the release of metabolic waste, and controls cell proliferation within a certain limit. This approach offers a highly efficient substrate for antibody production, even in small-scale production facilities. However, previous methods for producing core-shell hydrogel fibers encapsulating mammalian cells relied on microfluidic devices, which limited the volume of hydrogel that could be produced per unit time, making them unsuitable for mass culture.
In this study, researchers have developed a method to produce core-shell alginate hydrogel structures with hierarchically layered hydrogels surrounding a core material, in which cells are encapsulated. A variety of hydrogel structures could be formed using core materials with different sizes/shapes, including linear fibers and flat sheets. This method enables mass production by simultaneously preparing multiple core materials and immersing them in the solution.
Data
- After 14 days of cell culture, antibody production per cell was more than doubled when using this alginate gel fibers for culturing antibody-producing cells compared to suspension culture.
Patents
Patent pending (unpublished)
Principal Investigator & Academic Institution
Prof. Masumi YAMADA (Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University)
Expectations
Chiba University is seeking partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and contract antibody manufacturers interested in utilizing this technology for antibody production. We also welcome joint research collaborations to further accelerate this R&D project.
If you are interested, we would be pleased to arrange an initial meeting with the researchers. Please feel free to contact us to discuss the next steps.
Project No.TT-05132