Benchtop Mass Spectrometer Released for Biotechnology Process Development Laboratories

Process lab researchers, managers, and engineers in biotechnology process development laboratories can now analyze complex gas streams with a new benchtop magnetic sector analyzer designed for continuous operation in process development laboratories at greater speed and with greater precision.

The product—the Thermo Scientific Prima BT benchtop mass spectrometer—employs powerful scanning magnetic-sector technology that measures the gas that is produced during cell culture. This gas analysis helps lab researchers monitor the respiration of cells and understand the cell growth process, enabling them to accelerate the scale-up process.

Intended specifically for process development labs in need of a flexible gas analyzer, the Thermo Scientific Prima BT mass spectrometer is designed to offer customers reliable multi-stream performance. Designed for high-precision composition measurements, the Prima BT enables fast, robust analysis that can be reliably multiplexed. In addition, Prima BT is designed for highly-sensitive low-flow biologics research, as it connects directly to the bioreactor, enabling critical real-time analysis.

Thermo Fisher showcased its new Prima BT this week at the BioProcess International Conference and Exhibition, September 17-19, 2013, Hynes Convention Center, Booth # 611.

“The Prima BT is the first affordable mass spectrometer configured for lab-based process development. As such, we’ve designed it to contribute to novel process development that will ultimately extend to industrial scale,” said Peter Traynor, global product manager, environmental and process monitoring, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “With the launch of this new scanning magnetic-sector gas analyzer, Thermo Fisher Scientific has evolved the marketplace, enabling online analysis to replace off-line assays, helping to fill in the gaps of process understanding.”

The Prima BT uses exactly the same analytical engine as the well established Thermo Scientific Prima PRO mass spectrometer, intended to enable worry-free scale-up from the lab to the process line. Further, the Prima BT’s smaller footprint serves a wider range of researchers. The 16-port gas analyzer provides a complete analysis of complex gas streams for the purpose of tracking dynamic process variables. Measurement precision and analysis speed process understanding, which in turn helps to shorten drug development time.

The Thermo Scientific Prima BT Mass Spectrometer offers the following intended features and performance specifications:
• High Reliability: Designed for 20 Million translations between face seal replacement
• Simple Maintenance: as little as 15 minutes to change inexpensive face seal
• Fast Response: Zero-dead-volume design
• Tight Temperature Control: For constant sample viscosity
• Easy Clean Design: In the event of sample contamination