Cellexus to Supply Patent-Protected Oxygen and pH Detectors from Polestar

Polestar Technologies Inc and Cellexus Biosystems have entered into a non-exclusive agreement under which Cellexus Biosystems will distribute Polestar’s optical dissolved oxygen and optical pH monitors as part of its portfolio of disposable bioreactor products.

The Polestar monitors were developed by the Company from its fluorescent quenching technology (US Patents US5037615 and US5152287). 

Oxygen detection (or pH monitoring) is accomplished by integrating a patch inside the disposable bioreactor. 

This patch contains a fluorescent indicator which is embedded in a permeable polymeric sensing membrane. 

The technology works by allowing oxygen to diffuse through this membrane where it quenches the fluorescence of the indicator molecule. The more oxygen is present, the more the fluorescence is quenched. 

The quenching phenomenon is non-oxygen consuming and is therefore immune to the type of calibration drift arising from fouling seen with traditional electrodes when they are used in bioreactors. 

"What this agreement means for Cellexus Biosystems is that we can include a very small and disposable "patch" on the inner surface of our CellexusBags™ and without having to use an invasive probe, we can measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen and the pH of the culture," explained Kevin Auton, CEO and inventor of the CellexusBag technology.

"By simply pointing probes at the patches, we can measure these two key parameters. The devices that record and display these data are very small and are simple to use."

"The dissolved oxygen concentration or the pH can either be read from the display by an operator or can be output to a data tracking system."

"We believe that Polestar Technologies has a unique IP position in the use of their non-invasive monitoring systems for disposable bioreactors and are looking forward to incorporating these products into our current and future disposable systems."