US 4,833,083 AGranted

Packed bed bioreactor

AssigneeSepragen Corporation

InventorVinit Saxena

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Abstract

A bioreactor for anchorage or nonanchorage dependent cells or for immobilized enzymes that is capable of achieving high cell densities or concentrations of reaction products is disclosed. The bioreactor is capable of being easily scaled up. The bioreactor utilizes horizontal or radial flow of the culture or growth medium across a packed bed of microcarriers with attached cells or enzymes. The radial flow utilized by the chamber minimizes the non-optimal culture perfusion problems and maximizes the uniformity of medium delivery and cell and/or enzyme viability. The cell culture chamber possess the capability for the production of many industrially important and useful products, particularly in the medical, pharmaceutical, food, agricultural, environmental and purification industries. In the medical and pharmaceutical industries, the large scale production of therapeutically important substances such as anti-tumor factors, hormones, viral antigens, enzymes, interferons and other valuable biomolecules, is greatly facilitated.

Claims37

Dependent claims

A radial-flow bioreactor comprising:

a vessel having at least one removable end section having a reaction medium inlet therein, said removable end section including a protruding section provided with a cut-away section extending around a periphery thereof,
a plurality of spaced porous members located within said vessel,
a bed of support material located within said vessel and intermediate said spaced porous members,
a distribution means located in said removable end section and having a centrally located opening in fluid communication with said inlet and said cut-away section of said removable end section for directing reaction medium substantially uniformly radially outwardly and about an outer surface of a first of said plurality of porous members on a side opposite said bed of support material, and
an outlet collection means for collecting at least spent reaction medium and discharging such from said vessel being partially located on a side of a second of said plurality of porous members opposite said bed of support material,
whereby reaction medium passing through said inlet and said distribution means passes uniformly in a substantially radial inward direction through said first of said porous members, substantially radially inward through said bed of support material, and substantially inward through said second of said porous members into said inlet collection means.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.