text: In this study, a CHO cell line producing a human IgG1 monoclonal antibody was subjected to a four factor, mixed level design for process optimization. Culture pH and DO were controlled at two different levels, while two feeds were added at three different levels. The full factorial design yielded a total of 36 unique experimental conditions, which were run with either four or six replicates to yield a total of 30 Bioreactor Cards (180 microbioreactors).
  Each culture was run in a 13-day fed-batch process with pH, DO, and glucose control. The temperature for all cultures was 36.5°C and the CO2 was fixed at either 5% or 10%, depending on the pH set point. DO control was achieved by changing the incubator oxygen set point in response to the DO measurement of all microbioreactors residing in that specific incubator.
  The results of this study demonstrated a good correlation between the microbioreactor and bench-scale platforms across 11 different process conditions. Based on this level of correlation, the SimCell platform and the concepts described in this study can be extended to larger experimental designs to quickly and efficiently explore a larger knowledge space and identify the design space in cell culture process development.