Immunos Bio said Thursday that it registered a patent on the shaking culture method of immune cells, which creates an optimal cell culture environment by regulating shear stress.

Shaking culture is a way of placing the cultured cells into a liquid medium and cultivate while continuously swaying on a shaker. The method is mainly used for culturing bacteria with cell walls because foam generated by rotation and resistance to applied force can disintegrate the cell membrane.

Photos show the difference after six days of culturing cells based on the general method (left) and those based on Immunis Bio’s shaking method.

When immune cells are cultured in vitro for producing immune cell therapy, various factors interact for cell growth. Among the interactions, aggregation plays a vital role in cell growth. However, excessive aggregation can work as a limiting factor for growth as the clumped cells make it difficult to exchange effective components and air contained in the medium. Therefore, controlling the aggregation with the right amount is critical in immune cell culture.

The registered patent is a method for cultivating mammalian immune cells. It causes rotary motion to the culture medium to generate appropriate shear stress and aggregation, which provides an optimal environment to promote immune cell proliferation in vitro.

“Our patent for shaking culture method has solved the foaming and aggregation issues, minimizing the stress on immune cells and building an ideal environment for mass in vitro proliferation,” Immunis Bio CEO Kang Jeong-hwa said.

The company’s shaking culture facilitates automatic cell counting and helps maintain the optimal cell density by adding the medium, marking a step toward the automation of cell culture devices, Kang said.

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