Rapid Chemically-Defined Feed Media Development to Improve Simulated Cell Culture Processes

Media development is an integral step in optimizing a cell culture process. Modification to the growth medium in an existing process may not be a realistic option due to various constraints. Implementing an optimized feed medium may be the most effective alternative means of improving culture performance, whether starting from a batch or a fed-batch process.

To challenge this approach, feed media were developed to complement growth media with unknown formulations in simulated cell culture processes. The simulated processes consisted of two commercially available growth media paired with two CHO cell lines.

This case study details a two month, four phase plan to design chemically-defined feed media to improve a culture process. The four development phases were: feed media survey, component screen/optimization, amino acid balancing, and formula verification. In both cases, a three-fold increase in antibody concentration over batch was achieved. In addition, superior performance of the resulting feed medium was observed compared to five commercially available feeds. This case study highlights the potential benefit of feed development for a given cell culture process, within a condensed timeline.