BioSTAR West Relies on Quality Ultrapure Water for Consistent Results

BioSTAR West is a bioengineering and biomaterials company in Claremont, California focused on developing immediate care medical devices. This new facility develops materials for wound healing, as well as tissue-engineered antibacterial and antiviral products for medical and pharmaceutical applications. Research focuses on chemically modifying polymers and delivery systems to enhance their natural antibacterial, bioinhibition or bioenhancement capabilities.

One current project investigates cellular responses to bandages inside the human body. As the aqueous-based chemical synthesis is a sensitive process, there cannot be any traces of impurities in wounds or wound healing. Additionally, cell culture testing requires the ability to control sensitive responses. In order to conduct this necessary research, BioSTAR West has a chemical laboratory and a clean room, which both require purified water.

With one system, BioSTAR West generates water for both labs. “We chose a Milli-Q^® Advantage system from Millipore because purified water is an important element in eliminating the potential for impurities,” says Shenda Baker, president of BioSTAR West. The water purification system needs to run 24/7 without disruption. Today the labs are requiring 50-100 liters of pure water, but at full-scale will require up to 250 liters.

“The beauty of the system’s Q-POD^® water dispenser is that you can set the volumetric dispense and walk away during the processing and synthesis steps. Eliminating time-consuming steps helps us focus on our research,” continues Baker.

The Milli-Q Advantage system can be adapted to the ultrapure water needs of a specific application simply by changing the final filter on the Q-POD unit, providing the final polishing at the point of water dispense. At BioSTAR West, a single production unit services two Q-POD units (one inside and one outside the clean room) with a BioPak™ filter attached for pyrogen- and nuclease-sensitive applications.