Pall’s 24-Well Filter Plate Performs Cell Clarification and Sterilization

Pall Laboratory, a provider of filtration, separation, and sample preparation solutions, has introduced two new AcroPrep 24-well filter plates: one is the AcroPrep 24-well cell clarification and sterile filtration plate, and the other is the AcroPrep 24-well 0.2 µm sterile filtration plate.

The AcroPrep 24-well filter plate for cell clarification and sterile filtration can be applied to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO), human embryonic kidney (HEK), or other cultured cells in one step, in a single device, in minutes. This new filter plate is ideal for laboratories that require faster and more efficient protein purification workflows, the company said in a June 16, 2020 press release.

"Pall's AcroPrep cell clarification and sterile filtration plate saves considerable time, reduces consumable waste, and streamlines laboratory processes compared to the conventional two-step cell clarification and sterilization process," said Lori Euler, Pall's product manager, Molecular, in the press release. "It enables researchers to more quickly and easily sterile filter proteins from high-density cell cultures-speeding up cell-line development and clone screening."

By combining both clarification and sterilization steps, the plate eliminates the need to harvest the cells in an offline centrifugation step, saving time. The filter plate's innovative one-step workflow uses multi-layer filtration media and membranes integrated into one device. The top layer features Pall's Seitz depth media that efficiently captures whole cells and cell debris. A 0.2-μm Supor EKV membrane provides an efficient sterile filtration layer. This combination effortlessly recovers more than 95% of extracellular proteins from whole cell cultures of up to 25 million (or more) cells/mL of varying viabilities.

Additionally, this device can substantially reduce plastic consumable use, Pall stated in its press release. In one example, it reduced plastic use by mass of seven times versus a conventional two-step process, significantly reducing disposal costs and environmental burden.

The second product, the AcroPrep 24-well 0.2 µm sterile filtration plate can be used in applications where a sterile filtrate is required. The device is designed for high-volume (up to 7 mL) processing of media, reagents, serum, or proteins. The 24-well Supor EKV plate features a dual-layer configuration-a 0.65-μm membrane integrated with a highly asymmetric 0.2-μm membrane-for fast, efficient, and sterilizing-grade filtration. The gamma-irradiated device demonstrates retention of a minimum of 107 cfu/cm2 of Brevundimonas diminuta per modified ASTM F838 guidelines.

Both products can be used with either a vacuum manifold or compatible centrifuge and are fully compatible with all major laboratory automation platforms.  Each filter plate comes individually bagged with a collection plate and lid. The devices are well suited for clone selection and clone candidate analysis, cell expansion studies, recombinant protein isolation prior to analysis, cell clarification, process optimization, and general sterile filtration.

Source: Pall