A closed, GMP-compatible way to release particles from mammalian and avian cells without deactivating them.
Not every cell disruption challenge is about applying more force. Sometimes it’s about applying less and doing so cleanly and reproducibly. A good example is the production of viral vaccines.
Constant Systems cell disruptors are best known for disruption at high pressures, up to 2,700 bar. Currently, we are seeing a growing interest in a different application: disruption of mammalian and avian cells for viral vaccine preparation.
The main difficulty isn’t mechanical strength, it’s fragility
Mammalian and avian cells break apart easily. High pressure was never the obstacle. The obstacle is that most available disruption methods, ball mills, ultrasonication, rotor-stator homogenisers, generate excessive shear and cavitation that deactivate the virus during processing. For attenuated vaccine production, an inactive virus means a failed batch.
Precise pressure, not brute force
Constant Systems disruptors can operate at low, precisely controlled pressure, preserving biological activity while fully disrupting target cells in a closed, aseptic, GMP-compatible system.
For virus production specifically, that translates into:
- Controlled, low pressure that disrupts the target cell without the shear forces that deactivate the virus.
- A closed system, built for aseptic operation where sterile filtration downstream isn’t an option.
- Continuous, reproducible processing, so scale-up from bench to production keeps the same technology and the same batch-to-batch consistency.
The evidence: gentle disruption that protects delicate structures
In a recent application note with the Fraunhofer Institute, CHO cells were disrupted at 21,000 psi to break the plasma membrane and the nucleus while preserving ER microsomes. This allowed cell-free production of active recombinant immunotoxins, without any downstream purification step.
The same principle applies: gentle, precise disruption of mammalian cells to protect delicate structures.
The application here is different from virus release, but the mechanical challenge is the same one vaccine manufacturers are facing: disrupt the cell precisely enough to reach what’s inside, without destroying the thing you’re trying to protect.
CF1 and CF2 Cell Disruptor
High-pressure homogenisation, from bench research through to production scale.
The high-pressure homogenisers from Constant Systems enable efficient and reproducible lysis of various cell types. They use the same disruption principle across a freely selectable pressure range, so the method you validate at lab scale carries forward without a technology change.
Key features
- Free selectable pressure range up to 2700 bar (40 kpsi)
- Continuous sample processing at the push of a button
- Robust technology with limited maintenance needs
- No air pressure installation necessary, just an electrical connection
- Efficient cooling of the processed sample with an optional chiller
- Automatic Stop after 3 shots of air
Sales in
Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, The Netherlands