The specific aims of the research are as follows: to systematically study the growth kinetics of hybridoma cells in continuous culture and to examine the applicability of the Monod model to the system under different growth limiting substrates; to elucidate the functional relationship among growth, antibody production, and rates of change of various environmental parameters. Special attention will be given to the effect of cellular energy metabolism on these relationships. The research also aims to examine the cause of sudden cell death occurring in batch culture and to explore its relationship to the lower viability at low dilution rates reported in the literature; and to apply the kinetic information obtained from the above studies to manipulate cell growth and production in the culture toward an optimum path. This research will advance the understanding of the growth of hybridoma cells. The problems addressed by this study are related to process technology. The kinetic information obtained from this study will complement the biological studies in this field.
