Advanced off-gas measurement using proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry to predict cell culture parameters

Background Mass spectrometry is a well-known technology to detect O2 and CO2 in the off-gas of cell culture fermentations. In contrast to classical mass spectrometers, the proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR MS) enables the noninvasive analysis of a broad spectrum of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in real time. The thereby applied soft ionization technology generates spectra of less fragmentation and facilitates their interpretation. This gave us the possibility to identify process relevant compounds in the bioreactor off-gas stream in addition to O2 and CO2. In our study the PTR-MS technology was applied for the first time to monitor volatile organic compounds (VOC) and to predict cell culture parameters in an industrial mammalian cell culture process.