A cell culture apparatus is provided with: a cell culture bag that is formed of a tubular membrane material that can accommodate cells and a culture medium therein and that has openings at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and that forms a flow passage for the culture medium from one opening toward the other opening in the longitudinal direction of the tubular membrane material; a solution supply portion that is connected to the one opening and that supplies a solution to the inside of the cell culture bag; and a solution discharge portion that is connected to the other opening and that discharges the solution from the inside of the cell culture bag.

Described herein is a surge tank based system to control surge tanks in a manufacturing train. The system includes data acquisition unit, data normalization unit, deviation identification and handling unit and an real time execution of control action from centralized computer in a manufacturing process unit, wherein said manufacturing unit includes an integrated system which incorporates a plurality of pumps, surge tanks, and weighing balances, and other unit operations alongside the normal unit operations of production of output product.

We have modified a commercially-available adherent cell culture bioreactor, developing a new sampling manifold configuration and new way of taking samples to reduce contamination risk.

A device for performing a cell study. The device comprises a plate having a plurality of wells, each configured for containing aqueous solution and having a well bottom with a plurality of picowells and a plurality of biosensors each configured for measuring at least one cell characteristic while being in contact with the aqueous solution in a respective the well. The position of each the biosensor in a respective the well is limited by at least one pin.

A fluidic device has a culture chamber configured to house a 3D culture matrix comprising a culture of microorganisms. A concentration gradient of a test substance is established over the 3D culture matrix by providing respective fluid flows at different end portions of the culture chamber and comprising different concentrations of the test substance. The response of the microorganisms to the test substance is determined based on the position of a border zone in the 3D culture matrix.

Provided herein are methods of predicting the effect of a concentration of a sensitizer on cell viability in a production bioreactor, methods of improving cell viability in a production bioreactor, methods of predicting cell viability in a production bioreactor, and methods for culturing a cell in a production bioreactor.

High throughput cultivation systems are used in pharmaceutical research and development. In this connection, samples are taken and analyzed for important parameters using external analysis. The results of the analysis serve to assess the cultivation process and provide important information about the process. Especially with cultivations carried out in parallel, the manual effort of sample preparation is great and can lead to errors. In order to avoid the need for sampling and thus to minimize the errors, a method is described in the present patent application which makes desired target parameters accessible in the form of soft sensors by means of previously recorded process variables. Herein is described a method for determining process-relevant parameters in CHO processes (Chinese hamster ovary) in high-throughput cultivations, in particular glucose, lactate and the live cell density or the live cell volume.

The present invention relates to a novel bioactivity testing structure for single cell tracking using a gelling agent and a bioactivity testing system including the testing structure. The present invention also relates to bioactivity testing, drug susceptibility testing, antibiotic screening, and diagnostic methods using the testing structure. The bioactivity testing structure of the present invention enables very rapid and simple drug susceptibility testing of bacteria, particularly Mycobacterium tuberculosis, drug screening, and bacterial diagnosis. Particularly, the use of the testing structure enables DST and diagnosis of bacteria only by pretreatment without the need to concentrate human sputum samples irrespective of inoculum effect, ensuring rapid, accurate, and simple testing compared to conventional tuberculosis diagnosis or DST systems. In addition, the testing structure of the present invention simultaneously enables the diagnosis and drug susceptibility testing of tuberculosis. Therefore, the present invention provides an effective alternative to the prior art.

A cell culture device comprising a microscale chamber dimensioned to maintain a cell under conditions that give rise to a value for at least one pharmacokinetic parameter in vitro that is comparable to a value for the same at least one pharmacokinetic parameter obtained with respect to the same type of cell in vivo, wherein the microscale chamber is configured for flow of culture medium, and wherein the at least one pharmacokinetic parameter is selected from tissue size ratio, tissue to blood volume ratio, drug residence time, flow rate, circulatory transit time, liquid residence time, and liquid to cell ratio.

A microscope for microscopic examination of a sample includes an illumination optics for illuminating the sample, an imaging optics for imaging the sample, a sample chamber for receiving the sample. The sample chamber has a door providing access into the sample chamber. The microscope further includes a first fan assembly arranged on a first side of the sample chamber for blowing atmosphere into the sample chamber or for draining atmosphere out of the sample chamber, through at least one first opening arranged on the first side in a first side wall of the sample chamber, and at least one second opening arranged on a second side in a second side wall of the sample chamber for allowing atmosphere from inside the sample chamber to exit the sample chamber or for allowing atmosphere from outside the sample chamber to enter the sample chamber.