TAP Biosystems has announced that TAP Biosystems and Merck have been nominated as co-finalists for two awards at the prestigious 2014 BioProcess International (BPI) Awards. The nominations recognize that the ambr250™ System, developed as a result of the collaboration, is a major advance in bioprocessing technology.

At the BioProcess International Awards, TAP Biosystems and Merck have been selected as finalists in the ‘Best Collaboration Award’ and the ‘Best Technology Application - Upstream Award’ categories from amongst numerous outstanding industrial collaborations for their partnership to develop the powerful ambr250 automated mini bioreactor system.

The high-throughput ambr250, co-developed with Merck, has the flexibility to culture mammalian lines, including CHO, or microbial cells, such as Pichia pastoris and E.coli, in single-use, stirred bioreactors utilizing continuous pumped feeds. This means using the ambr250 it is now possible to fully evaluate the process characteristics of large-scale bioreactors and fermenters in weeks rather than months, making the system a significant breakthrough in bioprocessing technology.

For details of all the finalists in the 2014 BPI awards, please go to http://www.bioprocessintl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BPI-Awards_Finalists_2014.pdf.

Mwai Ngibuini, ambr250 Product Manager at TAP Biosystems commented: “We’re honoured to be shortlisted with Merck for not one, but two BPI awards from such an amazing line-up of bioprocessing advances. Being recognised in these celebrated awards is a great accolade, and further supports the use of ambr250 technology as an excellent strategy for optimizing production of antibody and protein-based therapeutics to pharma and biotech world-wide.”