TAP Biosystems, a leading supplier of innovative automation and consumables for life science applications, is delighted to announce two posters presented at the recent Scale-Up and Manufacturing of Cell-Based Therapies Conference that demonstrate how the ambr^TM micro bioreactor system can determine optimal bioprocessing parameters for producing pathogen-free, red blood cells (RBCs) from human stem cells (HSCs).

The first poster entitled ‘Single Use Bioreactor System for Large Scale Production of Erythrocytes from Human Cord Blood Derived Hematopoietic Stem Cells' details research with TAP Biosystems' ambr system which demonstrates proof of concept for the use of human cord blood-derived hematopoietic stem cells as a source of human RBCs. The data were produced by major US biopharm company, Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, as well as leading academic institutes: the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Clinic, the Ohio State University and the University of Loughborough in the UK.

The second poster, ‘An optimisation tool (ambr) for defining the critical to quality production parameters for large scale production of RBCs from HSCs' describes research from the University of Loughborough, UK. Their scientists showed that the ambr automated micro bioreactor system can support expansion and differentiation of HSCs (seeding density 40,000 - 500,000 cells/mL) demonstrating process robustness in the efficiency of erythroid marker development between different cell culture conditions.

Andy Wylde, Senior Project Manager at TAP Biosystems explained the significance of these data sets: "Clean, compatible blood can often be in short supply in emergency or trauma situations, so there is a need to find a method of manufacturing high-quality RBCs without using donated human blood. This can be done by blood production - expanding human umbilical cord blood and placenta-derived progenitor cells in automated large-scale closed culture bioreactors."

Wylde continued: "However, the process parameters required to ensure reproducible and affordable blood production have yet to be fully developed so we're excited to see robust, independent research from some of the world leaders in this field showing our ambr system is a powerful tool for this application. Using ambr, some of the obstacles in successfully automating RBC culture are already being overcome, and we believe that this will ultimately deliver a cost-effective blood production process and in future, enable a rapid supply of pathogen-free blood, wherever and whenever it is needed."

For more information visit  www.tapbiosystems.com