Digital Twins for Continuous mRNA Production

The global coronavirus pandemic continues to restrict public life worldwide. An effective means of limiting the pandemic is vaccination. Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines currently available on the market have proven to be a well-tolerated and effective class of vaccine against coronavirus...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Heribert Helgers, Alina Hengelbrock, Axel Schmidt, Jochen Strube
Format: article
Language:EN
Published: MDPI AG 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/248bac1f7ea2484c9aeea8689d2854f2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The global coronavirus pandemic continues to restrict public life worldwide. An effective means of limiting the pandemic is vaccination. Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccines currently available on the market have proven to be a well-tolerated and effective class of vaccine against coronavirus type 2 (CoV2). Accordingly, demand is presently outstripping mRNA vaccine production. One way to increase productivity is to switch from the currently performed batch to continuous <i>in vitro</i> transcription, which has proven to be a crucial material-consuming step. In this article, a physico-chemical model of <i>in vitro</i> mRNA transcription in a tubular reactor is presented and compared to classical batch and continuous <i>in vitro</i> transcription in a stirred tank. The three models are validated based on a distinct and quantitative validation workflow. Statistically significant parameters are identified as part of the parameter determination concept. Monte Carlo simulations showed that the model is precise, with a deviation of less than 1%. The advantages of continuous production are pointed out compared to batchwise <i>in vitro</i> transcription by optimization of the space–time yield. Improvements of a factor of 56 (0.011 µM/min) in the case of the continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and 68 (0.013 µM/min) in the case of the plug flow reactor (PFR) were found.