Designed for Cells, Built to Scale
At the heart of our Vertical-Wheel® Technology is our patented Vertical-Wheel® impeller that creates the gentle, homogeneous mixing that keeps cells, aggregates and microcarriers uniformly suspended from 60mL to 80L scale.
Fluid Dynamics Does the Mixing, Not Just Speed
Constant lift is generated by the single wheel, holding cells and microcarriers in suspension effectively without compromising on increased sheer rates due to higher RPM.
A single vertically-oriented wheel spans the vessel and turns at lower RPM, so blades no longer whip at the medium in high-shear hot spots.
The wheel geometry consistently generates the fundamental flows needed to reach the whole working volume, across all scales.
Consistent lift, not turbulence, holds cells and microcarriers in suspension, which is why shear and energy dissipation stay low.
A Paradigm Shift from Stirred Tank
Traditional stirred tank bioreactors concentrate mixing energy near the impeller, creating localized regions of turbulence. The Vertical-Wheel distributes energy throughout the vessel volume to generate uniform suspension, consistent hydrodynamic conditions, and scalable performance for shear-sensitive cell cultures.
The Environment Your Cells Experience
Our patent-pending Vertical-Wheel FLUIDIX™ hydrodynamic environment delivers consistent energy, nutrients and gasses to every cell. The Vertical-Wheel® is the mechanism, the Vertical-Wheel FLUIDIX™ Vessel is the home, and Vertical-Wheel FLUIDIX™ is the gentle, nurturing environment your cells need to thrive.
Nutrients, gas, and medium exchange reach every cell without the turbulent forces that damage sensitive cells.
The conditions hold as you scale, a process optimized at a small scale transfers up reliably.
Govern aggregate size, viability, and phenotype by creating the right environment rather than through mechanical force alone.
A form factor can be copied. The characterized environment your process was validated in cannot.
Gentle, Homogeneous, and Linearly Scalable
Low-shear hydrodynamics protect fragile cells, preserving viability and phenotype through expansion.
One sweeping Vertical-Wheel® suspends cells, aggregates and microcarriers uniformly with narrow EDR range, no dead zones, and no cell settling.
The same mixing regime works from 60mL to 80L, so a process tuned small transfers up predictably. Use our Scaling Calculator to find agitation rates that maintain the same EDR across all scales.
The Same Wheel in Every System
All of our bioreactor systems run the same geometry inside the Vertical-Wheel FLUIDIX™ Vessels, from a 0.1L research study scale to an 80L commercial scale run. This design consistency translates to consistent and predicable scale up.
Fully Characterized and Peer Reviewed
The Vertical-Wheel environment is documented in peer-reviewed CFD, oxygen-transfer and shear/EDR studies.
This publication combines oxygen-transfer rate measurements through surface aeration for Vertical-Wheel bioreactors with specific oxygen-uptake measurements from human induced pluripotent stem cell aggregate cultures. Oxygen mass-transfer coefficients (kLa) were measured under different agitation rates, working volumes and headspace gas-flow conditions in 3, 15 and 80 L systems. The specific oxygen-uptake rate of iPSC aggregates was measured in a 0.1 L bioreactor using a custom dissolved oxygen probe configuration. These datasets were combined to estimate the theoretical maximum cell…
This publication characterizes Vertical-Wheel® Bioreactor hydrodynamics using computational fluid dynamics and biological validation with human induced pluripotent stem cell aggregates. The study evaluates velocity, energy dissipation rate, shear, and mixing across multiple scales and develops correlations for maintaining biologically relevant hydrodynamic conditions during scale-up. Cultures demonstrated reproducible aggregate formation, expansion, viability, and pluripotency within defined engineering ranges. The findings establish relationships between reactor scale, agitation, and cell…
Ready for Every Run
Our single-use Vertical-Wheel FLUIDIX™ Vessels create the same culture environment from benchtop process development through clinical and commercial manufacturing. Nothing to clean or re-validate between batches.
Go Vertical, Today
Tell us what you need and we’ll take it from there.