High-volume shake flask cultures as an alternative to cellbag technology for recombinant protein production in the...

Recombinant protein production in the baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) has emerged as a system of choice for the production of recombinant human proteins for R&D purposes. Scale-up protein production in insect cells past the one or two liter volume generally utilizes disposable cellbag bioreactors that provide a means to scale to the 5-25L range in a single vessel. However, cellbags can be expensive and their use requires capital investment in dedicated rocker platforms and their associated air pumps and exhaust heaters. Additional equipment, such as tube welders and liquid pumps are often also deployed for the sterile transfer of media outside of a biosafety cabinet. Herein it is reported that Sf9, Sf21 and High Five insect cells demonstrate normal growth characteristics when cultured at the 2.5 L level in 3 L Erlenmeyer flasks, or at the 4.5 L level in 5 L Erlenmeyer flasks in standard laboratory shakers. In addition, a direct comparison of the expression levels of four separate proteins at the 4.5 L scale in 5 L flasks versus those at the 5 L scale in 10 L cellbags demonstrates that protein production is equal to, or slightly better, in the flasks versus the cellbags. The adoption of high-volume shake flasks for routine recombinant protein production in insect cells has a number of advantages over disposable bioreactors in terms of ease of use, and equipment and disposables costs.