Sartorius Stedim Biotech Release: Ginkgo BioWorks Chooses ambr 250 Systems To Enable High Throughput Process Development Of Engineered Microbes

Automated Single-use Bioreactor Technology is Trebling Productivity and Improving Process Understanding

Cambridge, UK – March 7, 2016: Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB) today announced that innovative organism engineering company, Ginkgo Bioworks, has purchased a third ambr® 250 high throughput mini bioreactor system to accelerate fermentation process development of a range of industrially-important microbes.

Ginkgo’s third ambr 250 high throughput system, which automates independent parallel control of 24 single-use mini bioreactors (100-250 mL working volume), has been installed at their Boston facility where two ambr 250 systems are already being successfully used as scale-down fermentation models. The systems enable accelerated process development and optimisation of engineered microbes including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Yarrowia lipolytica, and Escherichia coli.

Emily Greenhagen, Director, Fermentation Engineering at Ginkgo Bioworks explained: “Ginkgo’s core technology releases the bottleneck at the point of engineering organisms. But with every bottleneck that is released, you identify another. Traditionally, fermentation process engineering has been one of those bottlenecks. We chose the ambr 250 to help avoid that.”

Greenhagen continued: “Between the liquid handling capability allowing for more frequent sampling and the quicker turnaround time between experiments, we have tripled the number of reactors each staff member can run, while also getting more information from each experiment. Having access to so much information has a huge impact on our process understanding. It removes a lot of the guess work, and has helped us shorten our process development timelines while enabling successful scale-up since we are able to more reliably identify potential failure modes. In short, the ambr 250 is a game changer for fermentation process development.”

Mwai Ngibuini, ambr 250 Product Manager, at SSB commented: “As a successful user of the ambr 250 systems, we are delighted that Ginkgo will be the host site for this year’s US ambr 250 User Group Meeting. This will take place on Wednesday, March 9-10 in Boston and we will be welcoming over 25 delegates from 10 major biotech firms. Here users will discuss the latest developments on the ambr 250 and share experiences and best practice across a wide range of applications and future advances.”

Image Files:

ambr 250 operators in front with red vessel_1452

Caption: ambr® 250 high throughput mini bioreactor system

A profile of Sartorius Stedim Biotech

Sartorius Stedim Biotech is a leading provider of cutting-edge equipment and services for the development, quality assurance and production processes of the biopharmaceutical industry. Its integrated solutions covering fermentation, cell cultivation, filtration, purification, fluid management and lab technologies are supporting the biopharmaceutical industry around the world to develop and produce drugs safely, timely and economically. Sartorius Stedim Biotech focuses on single-use technologies and value-added services to meet the rapidly changing technology requirements of the industry it serves. Strongly rooted in the scientific community and closely allied with customers and technology partners, the company is dedicated to its philosophy of “turning science into solutions.” Headquartered in Aubagne, France, Sartorius Stedim Biotech is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris. With its own manufacturing and R&D sites in Europe, North America and Asia and a global network of sales companies, Sartorius Stedim Biotech enjoys a worldwide presence. Its key manufacturing and R&D site is in Germany. The company employs approx. 3,700 people, and in 2014 earned sales revenue of 683.5 million euros.

ambr® systems are designed and manufactured by TAP Biosystems (now part of the Sartorius Stedim Biotech Group) a leading global provider of automated cell culture and fermentation systems for life science research, development and production. The ambr systems are widely used for cell line development and process optimisation at pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic laboratories. They are proven to provide a reliable model and consistent scalability to a range of upstream processes.

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