GE’S WAVE Bioreactor™ Streamlining Cellular Cultivation

GE Works

It may not be every day that you come into contact with a bioreactor, but this complex biological machine actually has the power to save lives.

Designed to cultivate cells, bioreactors are vessels that carry out a series of chemical processes—most notably they create vaccines. Trouble is, conventional bioreactors come with myriad challenges that can get in the way and slow down production.

The need for speed

Conventional stainless steel bioreactors must be sterilized and validated before each use—a meticulous and laborious process. Because of this requirement, production is often delayed, which is significantly problematic when creating a vaccine.

GE’s WAVE Bioreactor™ system, however, is designed for making vaccines and other biotherapeutics quickly and easily, without any sort of cleaning or steam sterilization. This saves valuable time while also reducing water and energy consumption.

Using the WAVE Bioreactor™ system can reduce turnaround time by more than 1,300 hours per year.

A production facility that uses a GE 500 liter WAVE Bioreactor™ system (instead of a stainless steel bioreactor with equivalent output), for example, can reduce water consumption by over 66,000 liters—about three full tanker trucks of ultra-purified water every year. And, by eliminating “clean-in-place” and other sterilization activities required by its conventional counterpart, the WAVE Bioreactor™ system can reduce turnaround time by more than 1,300 hours per year.

“Speed is actually one of our most important success factors,” says Rene Djurup, CTO and Executive Vice President of Bavarian Nordic. “A normal amount of time would be about two years for similar [vaccine] projects…We estimate that using the WAVE Bioreactor™ technology we have saved between six and nine months time.”

Safe and sound

By requiring no sterilization, the bioreactor offers protection against cross-contamination, enhancing the biological and process safety.

During the process, the culture medium and cells contact only a disposable chamber called a “Cellbag” that is placed on a special rocking platform. The rocking motion creates waves in the culture fluid, which provide mixing and oxygen transfer, resulting in a perfect environment for cell growth.

These benefits translate directly into greater cost efficiencies for customers and a reduced environmental impact.

“You get good mixing,” reports Steward Craig, COO of Xcyte Therapies. “You can actually grow [cultures] up to very high cell densities and you can fit more bioreactor units into a smaller volumetric footprint.”

Dollars and “sense”

And then, of course, there are the fiscal benefits. Complex bioreactor qualification and validation procedures add up: a single use WAVE Bioreactor™ system can cut costs by more than 60 percent compared to conventional stainless steel bioreactors.

And since the WAVE Bioreactor™ consists of fewer parts than conventional bioreactors, reliability is improved while maintenance costs are reduced. Of course, that means a reduction in man-hours and a more streamlined experiment overall.

“Compared to a conventional bioreactor it’s easier to learn; it’s a very simple piece of equipment.” Karin Wassard, Production Director at Bavarian Nordic.

These benefits translate directly into greater cost efficiencies for customers and a reduced environmental impact, making the WAVE Bioreactor™ not only a sound financial choice, but also a responsible one.