Gas permeable devices and methods are disclosed for cell culture, including cell culture devices and methods that contain medium at heights, and certain gas permeable surface area to medium volume ratios. These devices and methods allow improvements in cell culture efficiency and scale up efficiency.

Cell culture systems and methods provide improved immunotherapeutic product manufacturing with greater scalability, flexibility, and automation. Cell culture systems are configured with interchangeable cartridges, allowing versatility and scalability. Systems are configured to have multiple connected cell culture chambers, which allows parallel processing of different types of cells. Gas-impermeable cell culture chambers and methods for generating cells in closed systems prevent contamination and user error. Methods for recycling cell culture medium provide additional efficiencies.

Improved cell culture devices and related methods that overcome the limitations of prior devices and methods, by creating devices that can integrate a variety of novel attributes. These various attributes include the use of gas permeable material and medium volumes that exceed conventional devices as well as compartments that can facilitate the long term study of high density cultures with reduced disruption of the culture environment, the ability to study the migration of items of interest including substances such as chemokine, track the movement of cells, and monitor cell to cell interactions.

The present disclosure provides a fully enclosed cell culture system, including at least an incubator, a bioreactor, a gas flow assembly, a liquid flow assembly, a temperature adjustment assembly, and a central controller. The system realizes a thermostatic incubation environment. Cells are incubated by perfusion, and a fully enclosed integrated process from cell activation, infection and amplification to finished product harvesting is achieved. By axially stirring the cells and an incubation liquid in a tank body, a radial shear force is reduced, which effectively protects the cells and improves the cell yield. In the system of the present disclosure, gases are separately introduced, ensuring that the content of each gas component is stable in the incubation process. The cell incubation is not directly affected by changes of outside gases in the cell incubation process, which improves culture efficiency.

The present disclosure provides a fully enclosed cell culture system, including at least an incubator, a bioreactor, a gas flow assembly, a liquid flow assembly, a temperature adjustment assembly, and a central controller. The system realizes a thermostatic incubation environment. Cells are incubated by perfusion, and a fully enclosed integrated process from cell activation, infection and amplification to finished product harvesting is achieved. By axially stirring the cells and an incubation liquid in a tank body, a radial shear force is reduced, which effectively protects the cells and improves the cell yield. In the system of the present disclosure, gases are separately introduced, ensuring that the content of each gas component is stable in the incubation process. The cell incubation is not directly affected by changes of outside gases in the cell incubation process, which improves culture efficiency.

There was still an unsatisfied need to have a device specifically adapted for the collection of sputum, for example from CF patients. This technical problem is overcome by the kit of the invention comprising a sterile sampling container having a gas-permeable cap, an anaerobic atmosphere generator, and a sealable pouch adapted to receive the sterile sampling container and the anaerobic atmosphere generator therein. This kit is easy to use, cost effective and makes the transport of the sample easy while the sample can be kept viable for several hours. Our in vitro tests show that the use of the kit improves the number of survival colonies by 3 log after 48 h for V. parvula and by 1 log after 24 h for S. aureus.

The present invention relates to a gassing unit for bubble-free introduction of a process gas into a liquid located in a reactor, wherein the gassing unit comprises at least: a first gas receiving chamber and, spaced therefrom, a second gas receiving chamber for receiving a process gas, the two gas receiving chambers being connected to one another via at least two two-dimensional, gas-conducting diffusion membranes comprising hollow fibers spaced apart from one another and at least partially fixed to one another; a receptacle for a gas supply on at least one of the gas receiving chambers; a receptacle for a shaft on at least one of the gas receiving chambers;
wherein the gassing unit for gassing the liquid in the reactor can be supplied with process gas via the gas supply receptacle, can be set into a rotational movement via the receptacle for the shaft and can form a convection flow within the reactor via the rotational movement of the gassing unit in the liquid. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for gassing a process liquid, a gas-liquid reactor comprising a gassing unit according to the invention, and the use of a gassing unit according to the invention for supplying biological cultures with process gases.

The present invention relates to a gassing unit for bubble-free introduction of a process gas into a liquid located in a reactor, wherein the gassing unit comprises at least: a first gas receiving chamber and, spaced therefrom, a second gas receiving chamber for receiving a process gas, the two gas receiving chambers being connected to one another via at least two two-dimensional, gas-conducting diffusion membranes comprising hollow fibers spaced apart from one another and at least partially fixed to one another; a receptacle for a gas supply on at least one of the gas receiving chambers; a receptacle for a shaft on at least one of the gas receiving chambers;
wherein the gassing unit for gassing the liquid in the reactor can be supplied with process gas via the gas supply receptacle, can be set into a rotational movement via the receptacle for the shaft and can form a convection flow within the reactor via the rotational movement of the gassing unit in the liquid. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method for gassing a process liquid, a gas-liquid reactor comprising a gassing unit according to the invention, and the use of a gassing unit according to the invention for supplying biological cultures with process gases.

A cell culture container comprising a base section and a compressible wall element. The base section includes a substantially planar rigid base plate. The compressible wall element extends from the base section in an axial direction and defines an internal volume of the cell culture container. The compressible wall element is compressible in the axial direction. There is also disclosed a bioreactor that includes the cell culture container.

The devices, methods and systems are described for providing controlled amounts of gas, gas pressure and vacuum to microfluidic devices the culturing of cells under flow conditions. The devices, methods, and systems contemplated here may also be used to control the environment surrounding the microfluidic devices; offer user control over experiments comprising microfluidic devices, such as the ability to directly or remotely control experiment conditions; and comprise information aggregation and transmission, such that experimental data may be collected, stored, aggregated and transmitted to users.