Cell Culture and Fermentation
Stationary and spinner cultures are maintained in humidified carbon dioxide incubators. For large scale work Vista has 140 liter and 250 liter animal cell bioreactors. The units were designed by Vista personnel in collaboration with Whatman Biosystems. The bioreactors were constructed to meet GMP validation standards. Each unit is fully sterilizable, and is controlled for temperature, stirring, aeration, pH, dissolved oxygen, and culture volume. All fermentors can be configured for batch, long-term perfusion, or continuous culture production. For recovery of cells and cell products, we have micro- and ultra-filtration equipment, in addition to low and high pressure liquid chromatography equipment.

Physical Plant
The fermentation suites are specifically designed to meet the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) requirements for the production of biologicals. Currently we have over 4,800 square feet of controlled access laboratory space dedicated to the support of fermentation. The suites feature sealed walls and ceilings, seamless floors, and a minimum of Class 100,000 HEPA filtered air maintained under positive pressure.

Support
The laboratory includes a dedicated media / solution preparation suite, a sterilization suite, and an analytical suite for off-line measurements, such as glucose, lactate, ammonia, LDH, and IgG / IgM concentration. Instrumentation for product analysis includes an HPLC station, a Roche centrifugal analyzer, PCR, ELISA, and electrophoresis equipment. Auxiliary support resources include a Class 10,000 clean room, liquid nitrogen for long-term storage of cells, a large vacuum autoclave, a dry heat oven for depyrogenation, and an all-glass still for production of high purity pyrogen-free water.