Mettler Toledo Process Analytics Tech Note
"Easy Digital Sensor Integration" in Advanced Bioreactors

November 2018, MARIETTA, GA ~ Tissue engineering demands the utmost accuracy and repeatability from sensor measurements. A manufacturer of cutting-edge bioreactors for tissue applications has selected METTLER TOLEDO sensors for their performance and advanced features.

The ex vivo engineering of living tissues is a young but rapidly developing field in the biotechnology industry. Tissue engineering utilizes human and animal cells, biomaterials, physical stimulation and biochemical factors to manipulate and grow tissue. Its applications are as wide ranging as replacement of animal testing during drug development to developing bioartificial human organs to creating edible artificial meat. Worldwide, the tissue engineering market is estimated to have grown from US $15 billion in 2014 to US $32 billion this year.

Much of the development in tissue engineering requires advanced bioreactors that can standardize, control and automate the required growth and testing conditions in order to achieve high reproducibility.

At the forefront of bioreactor development
Ospin in Berlin, Germany was founded in 2014 to provide technology solutions that increase throughput in tissue engineering research and which serve as development and production platforms for tissue applications.

The company develops modular and scalable bioreactors that enable tissue production for a wide range of clinical and research applications. The bioreactors employ cloud computing and a web-based user interface to monitor and manage the tissue engineering and analyze the resulting data from the pH, DO and other sensors.

METTLER TOLEDO - "the obvious solution"
Maintaining the desired growth environment in the bioreactors requires careful control of pH, dissolved oxygen and other parameters. This necessitates the use of highly reliable analytical sensors with excellent repeatability. For this, Ospin turned to METTLER TOLEDO.

Jan Saam, founder and CEO of Ospin, explains: "Our customers already use METTLER TOLEDO sensors in their biotech research and production, so selecting them for our bioreactors was the obvious solution for pH and DO measurement. Also, the digital output from METTLER TOLEDO pH and electrochemical DO ISM probes made integration into our applications easy."

Error-free installation
ISM (Intelligent Sensor Management) provides a number of other useful benefits that analog sensors cannot provide. These include Plug and Measure installation: Calibration and other sensor information is stored within the sensor. When connected to an ISM-ready transmitter, or controller – as is the case with Ospin bioreactors – the data is automatically uploaded and the controller configures itself appropriately without any operator intervention, saving time, and eliminating the possibility of human error.

Pre-batch diagnostics
Using METTLER TOLEDO's CFR-ready iSense software, Ospin's customers can run pre-batch diagnostics to identify any sensor maintenance required before a probe's installed in a bioreactor.

Watch a short video on iSense

Future partnership
Ospin and METTLER TOLEDO hope to continue working together to produce high performance bioreactor platforms that will assist developments in the important field of tissue engineering.

To Find out more about Mettler Toledo's Intelligent Sensor Management platform, please click here.