Electroporator

A biotechnology firm – regarded as a world leader in its field – is looking to modify the genetic make-up of cells used in cell therapy.
Modifying a cell’s genetic make-up requires molecular biology tools capable of changing the DNA code within cells, as well as an instrument that allows these tools to penetrate the cell.
Various injection strategies exist, such as lipofection (a lipid-based transfection technology) or the use of viruses, but the solution developed by Bertin for its customer relies on a mechanical method known as electroporation.
Electroporation involves subjecting the cell to a very powerful electric field for a very short time, which duly destabilises the cell membrane, renders it permeable, and thereby allows the tools to penetrate the cell.

The engineers at Bertin Technologies then developed the electroporator, a piece of equipment capable of producing very short and powerful pulses – but well controlled and reproducible with a view to keeping cells alive – as well as the bigger wavelengths required for the penetration phase when molecular tools enter the cell.
The project to develop this electroporator came to an end in late 2020, to be followed by the production phase. Bertin Technologies is now the official manufacturer of this technology, which belongs to its customer, as well as the disposable device for conditioning the cells – 10 mL electroporation chambers suited to the industrial production constraints in the biotechnology sector.
The R&D teams are now thinking about a device that would be used together with the electroporator to automate the filling and emptying cycles for the electroporation chamber.