Optimization of HEK 293 cell growth by addition of non-animal derived components using design of experiments

Background Mammalian cells are a widely used expression platform for the production of recombinant therapeutic proteins or viral particle-based vaccines since they typically perform appropriate protein post-translational modifications and authentic viral particle assembly. Of the available mammalian cells, HEK 293 is one of the most industrially relevant cell lines because it is cGMP compliant and is able to grow in suspension in a variety of commercial serum-free media. Of note, production of human therapeutics in mammalian cell culture has become more and more stringent in past recent years and not only demands serum-free but also animal-component free production conditions to ensure safety. This work is part of a project aimed to optimize HEK 293 cell growth by addition of non-animal derived components to serum-free and protein-free media through design of experiments (DoE) in order to maximize productivity of a recombinant VLP vaccine by PEI-mediated transient transfection.