Scale Up Manufacturing Approach for Production of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Islets Using Vertical Wheel Bioreactors

This application note demonstrates the benefits of PBS Biotech’s PBS-Mini Vertical-Wheel® Bioreactor within a scalable workflow developed with Bio-Techne for hiPSC expansion and differentiation into functional pancreatic islet-like clusters. The bioreactor supported robust aggregate culture while maintaining  more than 95% pluripotency during hiPSC expansion and supporting progression through key stages of pancreatic differentiation. Combined with Bio-Techne’s GMP-grade reagents and analytical solutions, the workflow generated beta cell-containing, functional islet-like clusters that…

This webinar examines scalable suspension culture of PSC-derived organoids using PBS Biotech Vertical-Wheel bioreactors. PBS Applications Engineer, Hannah Worden, explains how low-shear, homogeneous mixing and consistent geometry support organoid process development and scale-up. Case studies cover liver, pancreatic islet, and cerebellar organoids, including aggregate-size control, differentiation, functional markers, and improved organization under dynamic culture. With the audience, we address agitation, seeding density, media formulation, perfusion-based medium exchange, sampling, and…

This poster, presented at ISSCR Kyoto 2026, demonstrates a scalable strategy for iPSC manufacturing using Vertical-Wheel Bioreactors, addressing expansion, process development, cell banking, and differentiation. Linear scale-up from PBS-0.1 through PBS-80 produced 200 billion iPSCs at a 50 L working volume while maintaining pluripotency and normal karyotype. High-density work cell banks were developed through 3D adaptation and retained differentiation potential toward cardiomyocytes and pancreatic progenitors. MiniPRO further served as a controlled scale-down model, demonstrating growth…