Cell harvesting is a critical step in connecting upstream monoclonal antibody production with downstream purification. Selecting the best cell harvesting technology based on the characteristics of the cell culture process can be challenging. This decision is made early in process development and requires a good understanding of both the current process and the advantages/disadvantages of the various cell harvesting technologies available.

Cell density and feed turbidity of the process are two primary considerations. Meeting the demand of increasing cell densities is critical as current harvesting technologies must be able to accommodate higher cell counts and the associated increased cell debris and impurities. In addition, most biomanufacturing is conducted using a platform process. Harvest platforms need to work across a range of conditions including monoclonal antibody culture types and manufacturing scales. In any biological process there will be batch-to-batch variability and harvesting technologies must be able to deal with this variability in the process.

Companies need to make decisions about which harvesting technique is the best fit for their process and which variables they should consider in the decision.

I recently was able to speak with Silke Bergheim-Pietza, Global Product Manager, Depth Filtration, Pall Biotech about current challenges in cell harvesting and available cell harvesting technologies. Silke is hosting a webinar on the process economics of cell harvesting technologies and agreed to answer a couple questions about cell harvesting. In the webinar, Pall Biotech will present the advantages and disadvantages of depth filtration, cake filtration, and acoustic separation and will discuss which process parameters affect the performance of the different technologies. Lastly they will provide advice on how to identify the most suitable technology for each process.

To hear our interview about current cell harvesting challenges and available technologies, please listen below.

To learn more, you can register for the webinar at The Process Economics of Cell Harvesting Technologies

Webinar times:

Wednesday November 14^th – 8:00 a.m. PST/11:00 a.m. EST – Live

Tuesday November 20^th – 8:00 a.m. GMT / 9:00 a.m. CET / 1:30 p.m. IST / 5:00 p.m. JST – SimLive