Accelerating The Seed Train: How UniFuge® Enables N-1 Intensification

Seed train intensification has become a vital lever for increasing upstream productivity. By focusing on the N-1 stage, process engineers can achieve significantly higher cell densities before inoculation, which shortens production timelines and increases batch frequency. However, reaching densities of 100 million cells/mL introduces distinct operational hurdles. Traditional filtration often faces clogging and high consumable costs at these levels, while excessive shear can lead to "hysteresis" effects that compromise future growth and protein expression.

Utilizing gentle centrifugation for media exchange preserves cell viability and ensures a closed, automated environment suitable for GMP manufacturing. This approach removes the bottlenecks inherent in manual or filter-based systems, allowing facilities to maximize output and optimize cleanroom capacity without physical expansion.

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