Comparison of fluidized bed and ultrasonic cell-retention systems for high cell density mammalian cell culture

Economically viable biopharmaceutical production is to a high degree dependent on high product yields and stable fermentation systems that are easy to handle. In the current study we have compared two different fermentation systems for the production of recombinant protein from CHO cells. Both systems are fully scaleable and can be used for industrial high cell density bioprocesses. As a model cell line we have used a recombinant CHO cell line producing the enzyme arylsulfatase B (ASB). CHO cells were cultivated as adherent cell culture attached on Cytoline macroporous microcarrier (Amersham Biosciences, Sweden) using a Cytopilot Mini fluidized bed bioreactor (FBR, Vogelbusch-Amersham Biosciences, Austria) and as suspension culture using a stirred tank bioreactor equipped with a BioSep ultrasonic resonator based cell separation device (Applikon, The Netherlands). Both systems are equally well-suited for stable, long-term high cell density perfusion cell culture and provide industrial scalability and high yields. For products such as the recombinant ASB, high perfusion rates and therefore short product bioreactor residence times may be of additional benefit.     

Engineering Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells to achieve an inverse growth – associated production of a foreign protein, β-galactosidase

Protein synthesis in mammalian cells can be observed in two strikingly different patterns: 1) production of monoclonal antibodies in hybridoma cultures is typically inverse growth associated and 2) production of most therapeutic glycoproteins in recombinant mammalian cell cultures is found to be growth associated. Production of monoclonal antibodies has been easily maximized by culturing hybridoma cells at very low growth rates in high cell density fed- batch or perfusion bioreactors. Applying the same bioreactor techniques to recombinant mammalian cell cultures results in drastically reduced production rates due to their growth associated production kinetics. Optimization of such growth associated production requires high cell growth conditions, such as in repeated batch cultures or chemostat cultures with attendant excess biomass synthesis. Our recent research has demonstrated that this growth associated production in recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells is related to the S (DNA synthesis)-phase specific production due to the SV40 early promoter commonly used for driving the foreign gene expression. Using the stably transfected CHO cell lines synthesizing an intracellular reporter protein under the control of SV40 early promoter, we have recently demonstrated in batch and continuous cultures that the product synthesis is growth associated. We have now replaced this S-phase specific promoter in new expression vectors with the adenovirus major late promoter which was found to be active primarily in the G1-phase and is expected to yield the desirable inverse growth associated production behavior. Our results in repeated batch cultures show that the protein synthesis kinetics in this resulting CHO cell line is indeed inverse growth associated. Results from continuous and high cell density perfusion culture experiments also indicate a strong inverse growth associated protein synthesis. The bioreactor optimization with this desirable inverse growth associated production behavior would be much simpler than bioreactor operation for cells with growth associated production. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Process development for an inducible rituximab-expressing Chinese hamster ovary cell line

Inducible mammalian expression systems are becoming increasingly available and are not only useful for the production of cytotoxic/cytostatic products, but also confer the unique ability to uncouple the growth and production phases. In this work, we have specifically investigated how the cell culture state at the time of induction influences the cumate-inducible expression of recombinant rituximab by a GS-CHO cell line. To this end, cells grown in batch and fed-batch cultures were induced at increasing cell densities (1 to 10 × 10 ⁶ cells/mL). In batch, the cell specific productivity and the product yield were found to reduce with increasing cell density at induction. A dynamic feeding strategy using a concentrated nutrient solution applied prior and postinduction allowed to significantly increase the integral of viable cells and led to a 3-fold increase in the volumetric productivity (1.2 g/L). The highest product yields were achieved for intermediate cell densities at induction, as cultures induced during the late exponential phase (10 × 10 ⁶ cells/mL) were associated with a shortened production phase. The final glycosylation patterns remained however similar, irrespective of the cell density at induction. The kinetics of growth and production in a 2 L bioreactor were largely comparable to shake flasks for a similar cell density at induction. The degree of galactosylation was found to decrease over time, but the final glycan distribution at harvest was consistent to that of the shake flasks cultures. Taken together, our results provide useful insights for the rational development of fed-batch cell culture processes involving inducible CHO cells. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 35: e2742, 2019     

High Yield of Human Monoclonal Antibody Produced by Stably Transfected Drosophila Schneider 2 Cells in Perfusion Culture Using Wave Bioreactor

Since it was first introduced in late 1990s Wave bioreactor has been used for protein production by mammalian and insect cell lines. However, using Wave bioreactor to produce human monoclonal antibody by stable Drosophila Schneider 2 (S2) cell transfectants has not been reported before. In this study, S2 cells were co-transfected with an inducible vector expressing human monoclonal antibody heavy and light chains, respectively, specific for hemagglutinin (HA) of H5N1 influenza virus. Stable S2 transfectant clone was selected by limiting dilution assay. Stable S2 transfectant clone that produce the highest amount of human monoclonal antibody was inoculated into two 2-l disposable cellbags, where cell growth and antibody production were compared between batch and perfusion cultures using Wave bioreactor. Here, we report that maximum viable cell density reached 1.06?×?10(7) cells/ml in batch culture; whereas 1.04?×?10(8)?cells/ml was achieved in perfusion culture. The maximum volumetric antibody productivity in batch culture was 52?mg/l/day; while perfusion culture yielded 1,437?mg/l/day. As a result, the total antibody production was 201?mg in batch culture and 8,212?mg in perfusion culture. The antibody produced by both cultures displays full neutralizing activity. Thus, our results provide strong support for using Wave bioreactor in perfusion culture for a large-scale production of human monoclonal antibody by stable S2 cell transfectants.     

Application of a cell-once-through perfusion strategy for production of recombinant antibody from rCHO cells in a Centritech Lab II centrifuge system

Based upon the results of scale-down intermittent perfusion processes, a cell-once-through (COT) perfusion concept was applied to a dual bioreactor system coupled to a Centritech Lab II centrifuge for culture of recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (rCHO) cells for monoclonal antibody production. In this new culture mode, i.e., the COT perfusion process, total spent medium was transferred to the centrifuge and a fixed percentage was removed. Approximately 99% of the viable cells are transferred to another bioreactor filled with fresh medium by single operation of the Centritech Lab II centrifuge system for about 30 min. Accordingly, a significant reduction of the cell-passage frequency to the centrifuge led to minimization of cell damage caused by mechanical shear stress, oxygen limitation, nutrient limitation, and low temperature outside the bioreactor. The effects of culture temperature shift and fortified medium on cell growth and recombinant antibody production in the COT perfusion process were investigated. Although the suppressive effects of low culture temperature on cell growth led to a loss of stability in a long-term COT perfusion culture system, the average antibody concentration at 33 degrees C was 157.8 mg/L, approximately 2.4-fold higher than that at 37 degrees C. By the use of a fortified medium at 37 degrees C, rCHO cells were maintained at high density above 1.2 x 10(7) cells/mL, and antibody was produced continuously in a range of 260-280 mg/L in a stable long-term COT perfusion culture. The proposed new culture mode, the COT perfusion approach, guarantees the recovery of rCHO cells damaged by lowered temperature or high lactate and ammonium concentration. It will be an attractive choice for minimization of cell damage and stable long-term antibody production with high cell density.     

Semicontinuous bioreactor production of a recombinant human therapeutic protein using a chemically inducible viral amplicon expression system in transgenic plant cell suspension cultures

Plant cell culture is an alternative for the production of recombinant human therapeutic proteins because of improved product safety, lower production cost, and capability for eukaryotic post‐translational modification. In this study, bioreactor production of recombinant human alpha‐1‐antitrypsin (rAAT) glycoprotein using a chemically inducible Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) viral amplicon expression system in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana cell culture is presented. Optimization of a chemically inducible plant cell culture requires evaluation of effects of timing of induction (TOI) and concentration of inducer (COI) on protein productivity and protein quality (biological functionality). To determine the optimal TOI, the oxygen uptake rate (OUR) of the plant cell culture was chosen as a physiological indicator for inducing maximum rAAT expression. Effects of COI on rAAT production were investigated using a semicontinuous culture, which enables the distinction between effects of growth rate and effects of inducer concentration. An optimized semicontinuous bioreactor operation was further proposed to maximize the recombinant protein production. The results demonstrated that the transgenic plant cells, transformed with the inducible viral amplicon expression system, maintain higher OUR and exhibit lower extracellular protease activity and lower total phenolics concentration in the optimized semicontinuous bioreactor process than in a traditional batch bioreactor operation, resulting in a 25‐fold increase in extracellular functional rAAT (603 µg/L) and a higher ratio of functional rAAT to total rAAT (85–90%). Surprisingly, sustained rAAT production and steady state, long‐term bioreactor operation is possible following chemical induction and establishment of the viral amplicons. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010; 106: 408–421. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Expression of SEAP (secreted alkaline phosphatase) by baculovirus mediated transduction of HEK 293 cells in a hollow fiber bioreactor system

A BacMam baculovirus was designed in our laboratory to express the reporter protein secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) driven by the immediate early promoter of human cytomegalovirus promoter (CMV). In vitro tests have been carried out using this recombinant baculovirus to study the secreted protein in two cell lines and under various culture conditions. The transductions were carried out on two commonly used mammalian cell lines namely the human embryonic kidney (HEK 293A) and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1). Initial studies clearly demonstrated that the transient expression of SEAP was at least 10-fold higher in the HEK 293 cells than the CHO cells under equivalent experimental conditions. Factorial design experiments were done to study the effect of different parameters such as cell density, MOI, and the histone deacetylase inhibitor, trichostatin A concentration. The multiplicity of infection (MOI) and the cell density were found to have the most impact on the process. The enhancer trichostatin A also showed some positive effect. The production of secreted protein in a batch reactor was studied using the Wave disposable bioreactor system. A semi-continuous perfusion process was developed to extend the period of gene expression in mammalian cells using a hollow fiber bioreactor system (HFBR). The growth of cells and viability in both systems was monitored by offline analyses of metabolites. The expression of recombinant protein could be maintained over an extended period of time up to 30 days in the HFBR.     

Perfusion seed cultures improve biopharmaceutical fed‐batch production capacity and product quality

Volumetric productivity and product quality are two key performance indicators for any biopharmaceutical cell culture process. In this work, we showed proof‐of‐concept for improving both through the use of alternating tangential flow perfusion seed cultures coupled with high‐seed fed‐batch production cultures. First, we optimized the perfusion N‐1 stage, the seed train bioreactor stage immediately prior to the production bioreactor stage, to minimize the consumption of perfusion media for one CHO cell line and then successfully applied the optimized perfusion process to a different CHO cell line. Exponential growth was observed throughout the N‐1 duration, reaching >40 × 10⁶ vc/mL at the end of the perfusion N‐1 stage. The cultures were subsequently split into high‐seed (10 × 10⁶ vc/mL) fed‐batch production cultures. This strategy significantly shortened the culture duration. The high‐seed fed‐batch production processes for cell lines A and B reached 5 g/L titer in 12 days, while their respective low‐seed processes reached the same titer in 17 days. The shortened production culture duration potentially generates a 30% increase in manufacturing capacity while yielding comparable product quality. When perfusion N‐1 and high‐seed fed‐batch production were applied to cell line C, higher levels of the active protein were obtained, compared to the low‐seed process. This, combined with correspondingly lower levels of the inactive species, can enhance the overall process yield for the active species. Using three different CHO cell lines, we showed that perfusion seed cultures can optimize capacity utilization and improve process efficiency by increasing volumetric productivity while maintaining or improving product quality. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 30:616–625, 2014     

CHO细胞无血清结团灌流培养：超声-沉降柱二合一灌流系统

利用CHO细胞能在培养过程中自然结团的特性,采用超声—沉降柱二合一灌流系统能促进细胞结团和加强截留的特性,我们用无血清培养基连续灌流培养基因重组CHO细胞MK3-A2株,分泌表达rhTNK-tPA获得了成功。培养周期为77-110天,细胞结团率为90%左右,直径在285～570μm之间,细胞截留率保持在95%左右,成活率为85%以上,细胞密度达到2×107/ml左右,rhTNK-tPA生产率平均为89 mg/L/d,最高时达216mg/L/d。 结果表明,使用该灌流系统进行细胞结团培养可以取代微载体培养用于动物细胞制药的规模化生产。     

Effect of culture temperature on follicle-stimulating hormone production by Chinese hamster ovary cells in a perfusion bioreactor

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) was produced in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells using a perfusion bioreactor. Perfusion culture at 37°C yielded a high cell density but a low FSH production. To investigate the effect of culture temperature in the range of 26–37°C on cell growth and FSH production, batch cultures were performed. Lowering culture temperature below 32°C resulted in growth suppression. However, specific productivity of FSH, q _FSH, increased as culture temperature decreased, and the maximum q _FSH of 43.4 ng/10⁶ cells/h was obtained at 28°C, which is 13-fold higher than that at 37°C. Based on the results obtained from batch cultures, we performed perfusion cultures with two consecutive temperatures. CHO cells were grown up to 3.2 × 10⁷ cells/ml at 37°C and culture temperature shifted down to 28°C to obtain a high FSH titer. Soon after the maximum FSH titer of 21 μg/ml was achieved, a rapid loss of not only viable cell concentration but also cell viability was observed, probably due to the low activities of enzymes related to cell growth. Thus, the extension of production period at 28°C is critical for the enhancement of FSH production, and the use of antiapoptotic genes seems to be promising.     

Process intensification in fed-batch production bioreactors using non-perfusion seed cultures

ABSTRACT

Although process intensification by continuous operation has been successfully applied in the chemical industry, the biopharmaceutical industry primarily uses fed-batch, rather than continuous or perfusion methods, to produce stable monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Conventional fed-batch bioreactors may start with an inoculation viable cell density (VCD) of ~0.5 × 10⁶ cells/mL. Increasing the inoculation VCD in the fed-batch production bioreactor (referred to as N stage bioreactor) to 2–10 × 10⁶ cells/mL by introducing perfusion operation or process intensification at the seed step (N-1 step) prior to the production bioreactor has recently been used because it increases manufacturing output by shortening cell culture production duration. In this study, we report that increasing the inoculation VCD significantly improved the final titer in fed-batch production within the same 14-day duration for 3 mAbs produced by 3 CHO GS cell lines. We also report that other non-perfusion methods at the N-1 step using either fed batch or batch mode with enriched culture medium can similarly achieve high N-1 final VCD of 22–34 × 10⁶ cells/mL. These non-perfusion N-1 seeds supported inoculation of subsequent production fed-batch production bioreactors at increased inoculation VCD of 3–6 × 10⁶ cells/mL, where these achieved titer and product quality attributes comparable to those inoculated using the perfusion N-1 seeds demonstrated in both 5-L bioreactors, as well as scaled up to 500-L and 1000-L N-stage bioreactors. To operate the N-1 step using batch mode, enrichment of the basal medium was critical at both the N-1 and subsequent intensified fed-batch production steps. The non-perfusion N-1 methodologies reported here are much simpler alternatives in operation for process development, process characterization, and large-scale commercial manufacturing compared to perfusion N-1 seeds that require perfusion equipment, as well as preparation and storage vessels to accommodate large volumes of perfusion media. Although only 3 stable mAbs produced by CHO cell cultures are used in this study, the basic principles of the non-perfusion N-1 seed strategies for shortening seed train and production culture duration or improving titer should be applicable to other protein production by different mammalian cells and other hosts at any scale biologics facilities.     

Production of human serum albumin by sugar starvation induced promoter and rice cell culture

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the most widely used clinical serum protein. Currently, commercial HSA can only be obtained from human plasma, due to lack of commercially feasible recombinant protein expression systems. In this study, inducible expression and secretion of HSA by transformed rice suspension cell culture was established. Mature form of HSA was expressed under the control of the sucrose starvation-inducible rice α Amy3 promoter, and secretion of HSA into the culture medium was achieved by using the α Amy3 signal sequence. High concentrations of HSA were secreted into culture medium in a short time (2–4 days) by sucrose depletion after cell concentrations had reached a peak density in culture medium containing sucrose. The recombinant HSA had the same electrophoretic mobility as commercial HSA and was stable and free from apparent proteolysis in the culture medium. In a flask scale culture with repeated sucrose provision-depletion cycles, HSA was stably produced with yields up to 11.5% of total medium proteins or 15 mg/L per cycle after each sucrose provision-depletion cycle. A bubble column type bioreactor was designed for production of HSA. In the bioreactor scale culture, HSA was produced with yields up to 76.4 mg/L 4 days after sucrose depletion. HSA was purified from the culture medium to high purity by a simple purification scheme. Enrichment of HSA in culture medium simplifies downstream purification, minimizes protease degradation, and may reduce production cost. The combination of a DNA construct containing the α Amy3 promoter and signal sequence, and the use of a rice suspension cell culture can provide an effective system for the production of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins.     

Effect of N-Acetylcystein on butyrate-treated Chinese hamster ovary cells to improve the production of recombinant human interferon-beta-1a

Sodium butyrate (NaBu) is used as a productivity enhancer for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. However, NaBu is well-known for having a cytotoxic effect, thereby inducing apoptosis. As an endeavor to reduce this defect, we studied 11 antioxidants known for inhibiting apoptosis, according to a Plackett-Burman statistical design on CHO cells producing recombinant interferon-beta-1a (IFN-beta). None of the antioxidants that we tested were as effective as N-acetylcystein (NAC) from the point of view of maintaining long-term survival of CHO cells and increasing the production of IFN-beta. In 7.5-L perfusion bioreactor cultures, the addition of NaBu and NAC elongated the culture period to almost 200 h throughout production phase and increased the production yield by 2-fold compared to control cultures containing only NaBu. Glycosylation patterns of produced IFN-beta at each run were also compared in IEF analysis. IEF profiles of where NaBu and NAC were added showed to be more isoforms with a lower pI than those of the control run. The sialic acid content was also increased by 17.7% according to HPLC analysis. Taken together, the data obtained demonstrate that the addition of NAC has positive effects on the elongation of the culture period, improving the production and increasing the sialylation of IFN-beta in NaBu-treated CHO cells.     

Effect of production method and gene amplification on the glycosylation pattern of a secreted reporter protein in CHO cells

We have investigated the independent effects of selective gene amplification (using the dhfr amplifiable selection marker) and culture operating strategy (batch vs repeated fed-batch vs semicontinuous perfusion) on the glycosylation of a recombinant reporter protein (secreted alkaline phosphatase, SEAP) produced in transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. HPLC analyses coupled with susceptibility to various exoglycosidases were used to determine the N-glycosylation profile of SEAP samples. The dhfr amplified cell line yielded an almost 10-fold increase in specific productivity as compared to that of the unamplified cell line. The glycosylation pattern of the reporter protein produced in batch bioreactor cultures of the amplified cell line showed only slight differences as compared to the glycosylation pattern of the protein from batch bioreactor cultures of the unamplified cell line. In contrast, analysis of SEAP glycosylation structures from the protein isolated from semicontinuous perfusion cultures indicated that both relative glycan content and extent of sialylation were increased as compared to samples isolated from repeated fed-batch cultures. These results suggest that the slow growing perfusion cultures produce more completely glycosylated proteins than the faster growing repeated fed-batch cultures.     

Characterization of a pH-inducible promoter system for high-level expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli

A pH-inducible promoter system was characterized and its potential applicability in recombinant protein production was evaluated using a plasmid construct, pSM552-545C(-), in which the promoter and activator coding sequences of the cad operon were inserted into the upstream region of a lacZ' reporter gene. Graded gene expression levels with respect to culture pH between 8.0 and 5.5 were observed and the induction range can be as high as 200-fold. The effects of several cultivation parameters, including pH, temperature, induction cell density, and inoculum size, were systematically examined. The practical application of this expression system to high level production of recombinant proteins was successfully demonstrated using a rich medium, superbroth. An extremely high recombinant protein productivity at a value of approximately 1.4 g/L with a specific expression level as high as 35% of total cellular protein can be obtained in a simple batch cultivation. The behavior of this expression system was further investigated using chemostat cultures. An uncommon relationship between the volumetric or specific recombinant protein activity and the dilution rate, with a maximal activity at a dilution rate of approximately 0.4 h(-1)was observed. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Achievement of high cell density and high antibody productivity by a controlled-fed perfusion bioreactor process

Controlled feeding of nutrient supplements to a cell culture to enhance monoclonal antibody productivity has been practiced widely in high-yield, fed-batch processes. In this study, a similar feeding concept has been applied to a perfused culture and evaluated for the effects on bioreactor productivity and product quality. Our experimental results show that, by using such a "controlled-fed perfusion" approach, the volumetric antibody productivity (antibody per liter per day) was significantly increased by nearly twofold over the perfusion process, and surpassed fed-batch and batch processes by almost tenfold. The substantial boost in the overall productivity is attributable primarily to the combined effects of increased cell density as well as reduced product dilution. Both were achieved through careful nutrient supplementation in conjunction with metabolite minimization. As the manufacturing process evolved from roller bottles to the controlled-fed perfusion bioreactor system, the immunoreactivity and the cDNA sequences of the antibody were well preserved. However, the product glycosylation distribution patterns did alter. The controlled-feed perfusion process demonstrated a unique encompassment of the advantages of fed-batch and perfusion methods; that is, high product concentration with high volume throughput. Therefore, it may be very suitable for large-scale production of monoclonal antibodies.     

Identifying conditions for inducible protein production in E. coli: combining a fed-batch and multiple induction approach

Background  

In the interest of generating large amounts of recombinant protein, inducible systems have been studied to maximize both the growth of the culture and the production of foreign proteins. Even though thermo-inducible systems were developed in the late 1970's, the number of studies that focus on strategies for the implementation at bioreactor scale is limited. In this work, the bacteriophage lambda P_L promoter is once again investigated as an inducible element but for the production of green fluorescent protein (GFP). Culture temperature, induction point, induction duration and number of inductions were considered as factors to maximize GFP production in a 20-L bioreactor.     

High‐yield secretion of recombinant proteins expressed in tobacco cell culture with a designer glycopeptide tag: Process development

Low‐yield protein production remains the most significant economic hurdle with plant cell culture technology. Fusions of recombinant proteins with hydroxyproline‐O‐glycosylated designer glycopeptide tags have consistently boosted secreted protein yields. This prompted us to study the process development of this technology aiming to achieve productivity levels necessary for commercial viability. We used a tobacco BY‐2 cell culture expressing EGFP as fusion with a glycopeptide tag comprised of 32 repeat of ”Ser‐Pro“ dipeptide, or (SP)₃₂, to study cell growth and protein secretion, culture scale‐up, and establishment of perfusion cultures for continuous production. The BY‐2 cells accumulated low levels of cell biomass (～7.5 g DW/L) in Schenk & Hildebrandt medium, but secreted high yields of (SP)₃₂‐tagged EGFP (125 mg/L). Protein productivity of the cell culture has been stable for 6.0 years. The BY‐2 cells cultured in a 5‐L bioreactor similarly produced high secreted protein yield at 131 mg/L. Successful operation of a cell perfusion culture for 30 days was achieved under the perfusion rate of 0.25 and 0.5 day^?1, generating a protein volumetric productivity of 17.6 and 28.9 mg/day/L, respectively. This research demonstrates the great potential of the designer glycopeptide technology for use in commercial production of valuable proteins with plant cell cultures.     

High-density perfusion culture of insect cells with a biosep ultrasonic filter

The baculovirus/insect cell expression system has provided a vital tool to produce a high level of active proteins for many applications. We have developed a very high-density insect cell perfusion process with an ultrasonic filter as a cell retention device. The separation efficiency of the filter was studied under various operating conditions. A cell density of over 30 million cells/mL was achieved in a controlled perfusion bioreactor and cell viability remained greater than 90%. Sf9 cells from a high-density culture and a spinner culture were infected with two recombinant baculoviruses expressing genes for the production of human chitinase and monocyte-colony inhibition factor. The protein yield on a cell basis from infecting high-density Sf9 cells was the same as or higher than that from the spinner Sf9 culture. Virus production from the high-density culture was similar to that from the spinner culture. The results show that the ultrasonic filter did not affect insect cells' ability to support protein expression and virus production following infection with baculovirus. The potential applications of the high-density perfusion culture for large-scale protein expression from Sf9 cells are also highlighted.