Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) has announced that TAP Biosystems, part of SSB Group since 2013, and Merck & Co., Inc. have won two awards at the prestigious 2014 BioProcess International (BPI) Awards.

The awards recognize that the ambr250™ mini bioreactor system, developed as a result of this successful partnership, is a major breakthrough in bioprocessing technology.

At the BioProcess International Awards, TAP Biosystems and Merck won the ‘Best Collaboration Award’ beating off stiff competition from other partnerships including Invetech and Janssen. TAP Biosystems and Merck also won the ‘Best Technology Application — Upstream Award’ for the ambr250 automated mini bioreactor syste0m against other excellent products such as the Xcellerex™ XDR-50 MO fermenter system and the MaxCyte® STX™ Scalable Transfection System.

Mwai Ngibuini, ambr250 Product Manager stated: “The main aim of our collaboration with Merck was to develop a simple to set up, single-use mini bioreactor system which has the versatility to replicate traditional bioreactors and fermenters for culturing mammalian and microbial cells. To achieve this we listened carefully to the bioprocessing experts that would use the system, as well as the context into which it would be placed and then worked tirelessly to deliver their vision.”

Ngibuini continued: “We’re delighted to win these awards with Merck because it indicates that the time and effort we all put into this partnership has really been worthwhile and the ambr250 is viewed by our bioprocess peers and experts as breakthrough technology, which has the potential to totally transform process development of antibody and protein-based therapeutics.”

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