STTR Phase I: Resonant Sensors for Wireless Monitoring of Viable Cell Concentration in Small, Disposable Bioreactors

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to develop a resonant sensor system to monitor cell viability in small bioreactors. Cell factories are responsible for producing more than $150B worth of cell therapies, protein therapies, industrial enzymes, and small molecules each year. At the development phase, there are few technologies to monitor viable cell concentration, a critical quality attribute in a large array of bioreactors. Current methods to monitor cell viability are labor intensive, expensive, and can compromise quality. The proposed technology could be embedded into the walls of disposable flasks and bioreactors to provide real-time measurement of viable cell concentration. This could enable substantial "big data" improvements for bioprocess developers, clonal selection, and small batch production. This STTR Phase I project proposes to demonstrate passive, wireless sensing of viable cell concentration with resonant sensors. Dielectric probes are used in industry to correlate culture capacitance to viable cell concentration in large culture volumes. In this proposal, the change in culture capacitance in small culture volumes could be wireless reported with a passive sensor embedded as part of the disposable culture flask or single-use bioreactor. In this form factor, it would never make contact with the cell product, would be wirelessly implemented, and would have potential to be easily multiplexed. Technical objectives for this work are 1) determining the extent of confounding signal effects from movement, media composition and temperature; 2) building a Bluetooth enabled reader pad for implementation in an incubator; and 3) developing an algorithm that translates the complex resonant sensor amplitude and phase data into simple parameters that can be used to track viable cell concentration. In addition, the plan is to model and test the effect of resonator geometry, material composition, and sensor placement. The goal is to produce a robust sensor system for cell viability to test in real culture conditions on numerous cell types. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.