ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to summarize aspects of bioreactor technology that have been or could be applied to insect cell cultures with an emphasis on bioreactor design considerations. A novel technique applied to enhance cell density of insect cell culture is microencapsulation. Due to potential applications for the production of valuable bioproducts, interest in insect cell culture has expanded considerably. Many commercially important products of the cells of higher organisms may be produced in vitro by cell culture techniques. The main technological constraint to large volume cultivation of insect cells in suspension is the supply of sufficient oxygen without aggressive sparging and stirring. The growing prospects of employing insect cell cultures for the production of a variety of bioproducts, ranging from agricultural viral pesticides to human health care recombinant proteins, have prompted considerable efforts at increasing the scale of operation. The enhancement of cell densities in insect cell culture have, to some extent, been addressed.