The off-gas composition from perfusion cultivation of a CHO-cell line producing recombinant human blood coagulation Factor VIII is monitored with an electronic nose. It is shown that the electronic nose in combination with an arti®cial neural network can be used for on-line estimation of the Factor VIII concentration in production-scale cultivations. The obtained prediction error (1r) for the Factor VIII concentration was 1.1 IU/ml. The potential of the electronic nose for estimation of viable cell count is outlined in laboratory-scale Factor VIII cultivations. The obtained prediction error 1r for the viable cell count was 0:4 Â 10 6 cells/ml. The results show that this non-invasive method is potentially useful for on-line bioprocess monitoring.

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