Esco Aster News & Events

Esco Aster Joins the World Vaccine Congress for the 6th Time

April 04, 2022

Singapore – On Apr. 18-21, Esco Aster, a vertically integrated contract research (CRO), contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), will exhibit onsite in the upcoming World Vaccine Congress (WVC) in Marriott Marquis Washington DC, USA. After all the restrictions of the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Esco Aster is seeing a return to the much-awaited conference with a new lineup of bioprocessing tools to display. Singapore – On Apr. 18-21, Esco Aster, a vertically integrated contract research (CRO), contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), will exhibit onsite in the upcoming World Vaccine Congress (WVC) in Marriott Marquis Washington DC, USA. After all the restrictions of the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Esco Aster is seeing a return to the much-awaited conference with a new lineup of bioprocessing tools to display. 

Of the company’s recent development for its Tide Motion product portfolio, Esco Aster will launch the latest version of the CelCradle and CelCradle X system. What’s unique in the newest CelCradle® design, is its standalone control tower equipped with a 21 CFR Part 11-compliant software and adapting its single use bottle with different types of macroporous carriers. The bottles can be pre-packed with either BioNOC II®, BioMESH®, or BioNOC D™. Automated pH, DO control and monitoring have also been made easier with its upgraded CelFeeder design feature. This eliminates the manual checking of pH levels for monitoring thus saving both labor and time. 

Not only the CelCradle system gets a fresh look, but Esco Aster also improved the CelCradle X® and executed the following features: 

World Vaccine Congress Banner

Figure 1. Esco Aster booths in the World Vaccine Congress throughout the years.

Both the CelCradle and CelCradle X continue to utilize the unique tide motion principle for alternate exposure of cells to aeration and nutrition. As a linearly scalable outcome, the units are equipped with an automated harvesting system for harvesting live whole cells, intracellular viruses, and more. 

Esco Aster will also highlight the success of the recently published study in the international, peer-reviewed journal, Vaccines, which discusses the production of high-titer Hepatitis C Virus in the Tide Motion system. 

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a pathogen responsible for causing blood-transferred infections associated with chronic liver diseases. A reported estimate of 58 million people, worldwide, are living with chronic HCV infection, and 1.5 million new infections and 300,000 HCV-related deaths in a year. To date, there is still no licensed vaccine that can protect an individual against chronic HCV infection. Furthermore, the vaccine development based on whole virus as well as the area of research for ultrastructural and immunogenicity studies, require high-titer virus production. 

In the recent published study, HCV was produced in human hepatoma-derived Huh7.5 cells through the high cell density bioreactor, CelCradle™. It was observed that the highest virus yields were obtained upon two medium exchanges. The laboratory scale bioreactor system allows recirculation mode, with the inclusion of media reservoir bottles, responsible for 100% medium replenishment that is significant in virus production for a higher viral titer yield. Moreover, this study also demonstrated the infectivity titers levels with the peak of up to 7.2 log10 focus forming units (FFU)/mL, accumulated virus yields of up to 5/9 x 1010 FFU, and a cell specific virus yield of up to 41 FFU/cell from a single CelCradle™ system.

These findings highlight the packed-bed Tide Motion system’s capability in virus production, providing high virus titers for applications such as HCV vaccine production. The laboratory scale, packed-bed Tide Motion bioreactor, can be linearly scaled up to larger vessels, offering a platform for larger scale HCV vaccine development. 

Through the years, Esco Aster launched and the latest products that help solve the challenges in the bioprocessing industry. WVC is an event format that comprise a series of panel sessions and exhibitions with thousands of attendees worldwide. With so much to show throughout the four (4) days, we look forward to welcoming you there. 

Grab your tickets to the leading vaccine congress through here:
https://secure.terrapinn.com/V5/step1.aspx?E=10550&_ga=2.104730944.1730050778.1643355368-104605481.1632385419
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