Schwab Nathan, Frank Nathan, Acker Tonya, Richardson Kelly, Miller Mindy
Department of Research and Development, Terumo Blood and Cell Technologies, Lakewood, Colorado 80215, United States.
Department of Nova BioProfile Applications, Nova Biomedical, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, United States.
J Biol Methods. 2025 Mar 4;12(1):e99010043. doi: 10.14440/jbm.2025.0046. eCollection 2025.
On-line sensing technologies for expanding cell cultures are becoming essential tools for understanding metabolic activity during critical stages of expansion. These tools generate data that indicate when user interventions are required, such as harvesting cells or cell products, inducing cell differentiation, or altering growth medium inputs. The platform must reliably measure the biochemical and physiochemical properties of interest in a dependable, aseptic, and non-invasive manner to benefit users.
In this proof-of-concept study, we used the Nova Biomedical BioProfile FLEX2 as a platform for metabolic and cellular measurements due to its ability to detect a range of metabolically relevant compounds, measure cell counts and viability, and acquire samples automatically.
Here, we demonstrated the straightforward integration of the analyzer with the Quantum Flex™ Cell Expansion System (Quantum Flex) using an available sampling port. While this approach can accommodate both suspension and adherent cell types, this study focused on suspension cells only. In addition, we developed a simple method to integrate the sampling adapter into a Quantum cell expansion set, allowing sample collection at precise intervals.
In both cases, the samples were acquired automatically using the analyzer's timing function, facilitating an automated expansion process with increased data collection frequency - previously impractical with manual sampling.
This model provides Quantum Flex users with an option for online sensing to monitor cell expansion at scheduled intervals without requiring additional user input.
用于扩大细胞培养的在线传感技术正成为理解细胞扩增关键阶段代谢活性的重要工具。这些工具生成的数据可指示何时需要用户干预，例如收获细胞或细胞产物、诱导细胞分化或改变生长培养基输入。该平台必须以可靠、无菌且非侵入性的方式可靠地测量感兴趣的生化和物理化学性质，以使用户受益。
在本概念验证研究中，我们使用Nova Biomedical BioProfile FLEX2作为代谢和细胞测量平台，因为它能够检测一系列与代谢相关的化合物、测量细胞计数和活力，并自动采集样本。
在此，我们展示了使用可用采样端口将分析仪与Quantum Flex™ 细胞扩增系统（Quantum Flex）直接集成。虽然这种方法可以适应悬浮细胞和贴壁细胞类型，但本研究仅关注悬浮细胞。此外，我们开发了一种简单的方法，将采样适配器集成到Quantum细胞扩增套件中，允许以精确的间隔采集样本。
在这两种情况下，均使用分析仪的定时功能自动采集样本，促进了具有更高数据收集频率的自动化扩增过程——这在以前通过手动采样是不切实际的。
该模型为Quantum Flex用户提供了一种在线传感选项，可按预定间隔监测细胞扩增，而无需额外的用户输入。
