Transforming Biomanufacturing: UV Light, LEDs, and the Future of Sterilization
Contamination is a major concern for scientists working with cell cultures. Just one stray bacterium can ruin an entire experiment. Now, consider the stakes in biomanufacturing, which involves using living cells to produce drugs, food ingredients, and industrial materials. Here, contamination could do more than just disrupt productivity—it could pose public health risks if harmful microbes infiltrate pharmaceuticals.
To mitigate this risk, companies traditionally employ a scorched earth approach by sterilizing equipment with high-temperature steam. While effective, this method is energy-intensive and requires equipment to withstand extreme conditions. “This was an approach developed by Pfizer in the ’40s to make penicillin,” Brian Heligman, co-founder and CEO of Biosphere, explained to TechCrunch. “And you look at the original systems; they look kind of the same as today.”
- Single-use reactors offer another sterilization option but can be wasteful.
- UV light presents a promising alternative, especially with recent cost reductions in UV-C LEDs.
“During the Covid era, you saw a lot of capital influx into the manufacture of UV-C LEDs,” Heligman said. “They’ll probably get orders of magnitude cheaper in the next decade.”
{Brian Heligman}
Biosphere, under Heligman’s leadership, has spent the last two years developing a three-liter glass benchtop bioreactor that can be entirely sterilized using UV light. The reactor houses four powerful LEDs that illuminate every part of the chamber and its instrumentation. This innovation is currently undergoing testing in an $1.5 million Department of Defense project aimed at using biomanufacturing to produce high-performance oils.
The use of LEDs in sterilization could significantly cut costs in biomanufacturing. As systems become less complex, materials that were once too costly to produce may become viable options. “As you start to simplify these systems’ complexity, we think we can push to a transformatively lower floor,” Heligman stated. He envisions this as akin to the ‘electrification of the bioreactor,’ suggesting that replacing expensive stainless steel components with LEDs and cables could drive down expenses dramatically.
Moreover, since vessels wouldn’t need to withstand high temperatures and pressure, they could potentially be made from more affordable materials like plastics for certain applications. The company is working on building a pilot bioreactor capable of holding around 100 liters using its innovative technology. Following this milestone, Heligman aims to explore designs that could accommodate 40,000 to 80,000 liters.
Biosphere has successfully raised $8.8 million in seed funding led by Lowercarbon Capital and VXI Capital, with participation from B37 Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Founders Fund, and GS Futures.
