Aeration, or delivery of oxygen to cells, is a very important aspect of optimizing cell culture in a bioreactor environment. Cells need continuous delivery of oxygen while in bioreactor culture and the rate of oxygen demand will increase as the cell mass increases. Understanding the dynamics of this important relationship is critical for optimizing both the amount of oxygen delivered to the cells and the bioreactor culture overall throughout the entire culture run.

The Keck Graduate Institute and WuXi Biologics have teamed together to provide technical training videos called Two Minute Tuesday videos for the bioprocessing industry.  Recently they published two videos on the Impact of Aeration on Bioprocessing, please click below to watch the videos.

The impact of aeration on cell culture – Part 1

Understanding the impact of aeration and thus the dissolution of oxygen into the bioreactor growth media for uptake by the production cell line is paramount for success in bioprocessing. Watch the following Two Minute Tuesday technical training video for an overview of the concepts and important considerations for aeration in bioreactor operations.

The impact of aeration on cell culture – Part 2

Following last week’s tutorial on the impact of aeration on cell culture (Part 1), this week we present Part 2, which expands on the importance of understanding the Volumetric Mass Transfer Coefficient or K_La. There are many factors that influence K_La within the bioreactor, which are highlighted in this video. If you did not see Part 1, we recommend you watch that video first before viewing today’s Two Minute Tuesday tutorial.