KGI Offers Mammalian Cell Culture Program for Biotech Industry Pro...( CLAREMONT Calif. Sept. 18 /- Keck...)

CLAREMONT, Calif., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) today announced that it will conduct a five-day program for industry professionals to learn the latest developments in mammalian cell culture, from November 2-7, 2008.

"Mammalian cell biotechnology has undergone explosive growth over the last 25 years," said Matt Croughan, PhD, the George B. and Joy Rathmann Professor and director of the Amgen Bioprocessing Center at KGI. "There is strong demand for individuals skilled in mammalian cell biotechnology, and this new program will allow those in industry the opportunity to become more knowledgeable, operationally adept and business savvy about this growing field."

According to Croughan, recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells now surpass E Coli and all other expression systems for recombinant protein production, with total annual sales exceeding $30 billion. Amgen and Genentech make many of their products, including Enbrel(R) (arthritis), Aranesp(R) (kidney disease, anemia), Herceptin(R) (breast cancer) and Rituxan(R) (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma), from CHO cells.

The primary goal of the course is to provide an advanced background in mammalian cell biotechnology. The scientific, engineering and practical industrial aspects will be presented in a series of lectures and laboratory exercises held in the Amgen Bioprocessing Center at KGI. The lectures will cover a broad range of issues, from cell line engineering and design of culture medium to control of cell metabolism and operation of high density fed-batch cultures in large-scale bioreactors. In keeping with KGI's hands-on learning philosophy, the laboratory exercises will provide experience with many of the techniques and principles taught in that day's lectures. Course attendees will gain first-hand experience in setting up, running and analyzing data from high-density, fed-batch cultures in lab scale Applikon bioreactors.

Croughan was employed at Genentech fr
'/>"/>