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Since its inception in 1984, SoloHill Engineering has conducted extensive research to develop new, state of the art microcarriers. Its ongoing R&D efforts have resulted in the industry's most diverse product offerings, including microcarriers that are free of animal derived components.

HyClone is the leading global supplier of quality solutions to challenges faced by the biopharmaceutical industry and animal cell culture-based researchers. HyClone has accomplished this by applying its expertise in animal cell nutrition as it influences cell function and product yield.

HyClone and SoloHill have combined their expertise to provide not just individual products, but system solutions that incorporate microcarrier technology. Working together with their customers, HyClone and SoloHill develop cell culture systems and protocols that utilize animal protein-free components throughout the entire manufacturing process.

Why Microcarriers?

Microcarriers are tiny beads or particles with a surface chemistry that facilitates attachment and growth of anchorage-dependent cells in cell culture processes. There are numerous types of microcarriers, widely varying in their composition, size, shape and density.

Microcarriers typically range in size from 90-250 µm in diameter and have a specific gravity such that they can be maintained in suspension with gentle stirring. They may be composed of animal-derived or synthetic materials, including collagen, dextran, and plastic. Most are spherical in shape and may be either solid or porous. Surface treatments with biological proteins, synthetic compounds, and/or cationic charges may be added to further enhance cell attachment and propagation. All these differences present unique advantages depending on the intended application.

A primary benefit of microcarriers is that they provide increased surface area to volume ratios, allowing large-scale culture inside a relatively small footprint. For example, a microcarrier culture can potentially replace up to 26 typical 850 cm2 roller bottles. They can be maintained in a simple spinner flask or in a highly controlled stirred tank bioreactor. For the large-scale cultivation of anchorage-dependent cells, the incorporation of microcarrier technology in bioreactor systems provides numerous additional benefits versus roller bottles or other flat surface formats, including:

• Scalability – Easy subpassaging of cells
• $$ - Significant cost reduction
• Simpler harvesting, downstream processing
• Reduction in required technical labor
• Precise control of cell growth conditions
• Increase in titers

The HyQ®Sphere™ Advantage

HyQSpheres are available from HyClone, a company that has extensive experience in both serum-containing and serum-free cell culture. Combined with the protocol development and process optimization capabilities of SoloHill, customers have unparalleled technical support over the full line of products.

HyQSpheres are manufactured utilizing the same core material (cross-linked polystyrene) that T-flasks, roller bottles, and similar plastic culture ware are made from, thus facilitating the attachment process. This rigid substrate also provides optimal durability (no fragmentation) and does not allow the extracellular matrix to grow into the bead.

HyQSpheres are available in both collagen-coated and Animal Derived Component Free (ADCF™) formats. This facilitates adaptation from other microcarriers that utilize animal-derived components as well as transitioning into ADCF cell culture systems.

HyQSpheres incorporate various surface modifications, including cationic charges, and animal based proteins such as collagen or proprietary recombinant proteins, to further enhance the attachment process and to facilitate their use with a wide array of cell lines and applications.