Bioreactor apparatus

A bioreactor apparatus comprising:

• a vessel for containing liquid media;
• and
• a Venturi pump assembly, the Venturi pump assembly comprising:
• a media outlet conduit;
• a media inlet conduit;
• a pump device, configured to draw media from the vessel through the media outlet conduit and pass it to the media inlet conduit;
• a collector member, comprising:
• a mouth portion;
• and a narrowed throat portion;
• and
• a mixer device disposed downstream of the collector member,
• wherein the media inlet conduit is arranged to direct pumped media through the throat portion of the collector member, to generate therein a region of reduced pressure for aspirating vessel contents into the mouth portion of the collector member,
• and wherein the mixer device is adapted to mix vessel contents collected by the collector member.

A bioreactor apparatus comprising:

• a vessel for containing liquid media and a head space gas;
• and
• a Venturi pump assembly, the Venturi pump assembly comprising:
• a foam collector member having a mouth portion and a narrowed throat portion;
• a media conduit arranged inside the foam collector member concentric with the narrowed throat portion;
• and
• a pump device,
• wherein the pump device is arranged to pump media from the vessel through the media conduit thereby to generate a region of reduced pressure for aspirating surface foam and/or headspace gas into the mouth portion of the foam collector member.

A method for bioreactor processing, comprising:

• providing a vessel for containing liquid media;
• and a Venturi pump assembly,
• the Venturi pump assembly comprising:
• a media outlet conduit;
• a media inlet conduit;
• a pump device;
• an inlet member, comprising:
• a mouth portion;
• and a throat portion;
• and a mixer device;
• using the pump device to draw media from the vessel through the media outlet conduit and pass it to the media inlet conduit;
• directing pumped media through the throat portion of the inlet member, to generate therein a region of reduced pressure for aspirating vessel contents into the mouth portion of the inlet member;
• and
• using the mixer device to mix vessel contents collected by the inlet member.