Cell Disruption & Extraction

Cell disruption (lysis) is an important step in recombinant protein production procedures. Ultrasonic cell disruption (lysing with ultrasound) has been the laboratory-scale method of choice for this application for several decades. The process requires high ultrasonic amplitudes to be applied to cell suspensions, producing extreme shear forces. The shear forces are the result of intense ultrasonic cavitation, which creates violently and asymmetrically imploding vacuum bubbles and causes micro-jets that rupture cell walls. However, due to limitations of conventional ultrasonic technology, this method’s industrial implementation has not been possible without reducing ultrasonic amplitudes, diminishing the intensity of cavitation-generated shear forces and, therefore, compromising the efficiency of the lysis process. These limitations have been overcome with BHUT, which permits constructing industrial-scale ultrasonic cell disruptors with the same lysis efficiency as the laboratory devices, while offering much higher productivities.