Historically, advancements in CHO-based recombinant protein production have been driven predominantly by process development, and whilst these efforts have delivered significant gains, they have also highlighted a need to optimize additional process inputs to accelerate platform development. As the design and construction of the DNA expression vector in effect represents the first stage in the protein expression journey, expression vectors can have a significant impact on the overall yield from a commercial manufacturing process. Therefore, expression vector improvement is of significant interest to the bioprocessing community.
To ensure that the fundamental genetic instructions delivered into CHO cells at transfection can leverage the maximum biosynthetic capability out of the host cell factory, Lonza has been further developing its GS® expression vector technology. In particular, Lonza has developed a new high-strength synthetic gene promoter (LHP-1) that affords increased titers for a range of molecules, including more complex formats.