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Updated: Feb 12, 2026

Hollow Fiber Bioreactors for In Vivo-like Mammalian Tissue Culture
Published on: May 26, 2016
Optimizing T Cell Expansion in a Hollow-Fiber Bioreactor
Brian Nankervis1, Mark Jones1, Boah Vang1
1Terumo BCT, Inc., 11158 West Collins Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80215 USA.
Purpose Of Review:
Recent developments in regenerative medicine have precipitated the need to expand gene-modified human T cells to numbers that exceed the capacity of well-plate-based, and flask-based processes. This review discusses the changes in process development that are needed to meet the cell expansion requirements by utilizing hollow-fiber bioreactors. Maintenance of cell proliferation over long periods can become limited by unfilled demands for nutrients and oxygen and by the accumulation of waste products in the local environment.
Recent Findings:
Perfusion feeding, improved gas exchange, and the efficient removal of lactate can increase the yield of T cells from an average of 10.8E +09 to more than 28E +09 in only 10 days.
Summary:
Aggressively feeding cells and actively keeping cells in the bioreactor improves gas exchange and metabolite management over semi-static methods. The ability to remove the environmental constraints that can limit cell expansion by using a two-chamber hollow-fiber bioreactor will be discussed.
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