Exploring Innovative Engineering Design to Address Upstream Bioprocessing Complications (INTERPHEX 2024)

Editor's note: this interview was originally published on PharmTech.com.

Cytiva showcased its new single-use magnetic mixer system at INTERPHEX 2024, where BioPharm International® caught up with Eric Corti, global product manager for the Mixer Portfolio at Cytiva, to explore the key characteristics, challenges, and future of design of such equipment.

“This is a large-scale mixer that is primarily targeting media and buffer preparation applications. It's solving some really unique challenges in that space, and that's really driven by the consumable,” Corti stated. He explained that, in talking with customers, the company came to understand that one of the main problems plaguing the industry for large-scale media and buffer preparation are leaks.

To address this problem, the company aimed to design consumables that could effectively protect against leaks. The consumables were thus designed with protective features, such as a carrying case that wraps around the outside of the film and a covering for the impeller for protection on the inside. The company’s work didn’t stop at the design alone, Corti remarked, but rather the company went a step further to simplify the process as well.

“We understand that, during installation, large-scale consumables can often be tricky to install, and if they're done incorrectly, this can compound and lead to leaks, so we wanted to design something that was really simple to install, made it ergonomic and intuitive for operators to place the consumable inside of the hardware, and overall just make that experience [much] simpler and take [up] [much] less time. [This] can cut down on these leaks occurring in the first place, and can save customers a [significant amount] of money and a lot of pain and trouble that comes when those leaks do occur,” Corti emphasized.

Corti also pointed out that the new mixing system does not require any special configuration of the facility. “The mixer here has been deliberately designed to have a footprint that is going to fit through double doors that are standard for most clean rooms, as well as fitting within typical cleanroom ceiling heights. It’s going to cut down [much] of the costs … typically associated with modifying facilities just to get large-scale equipment in the door,” he explained.

Furthermore, Corti predicts that the future of single-use mixing systems design is leading more toward higher quality and increased quality assurance. Building on those protective capabilities in the design, Corti stated that many end users are asking for things such as point-of-view sleep testing and the ability to confirm even further that, once the consumables are installed in the system, there is a guarantee that there will be no leaks.

INTERPHEX 2024 was held in New York City on April 16–18, 2024.