ABER Instruments and Sartorius Stedim Biotech unveil BioPAT Viamass single-use biomass sensors
BioPAT Viamass provides high-resolution real-time viable capacitance-based biomass measurement directly in the cell culture, enabling direct inline monitoring of cell growth and advanced, precise analysis
13 Nov 2025Product news
Ambr® 250 High Throughput
Aber Instruments and Sartorius Stedim Biotech have introduced the BioPAT® Viamass single-use biomass sensor now fully integrated into Ambr® 250 High Throughput single-use bioreactor vessels.
This expansion marks a significant milestone in scaling advanced process analytical technology (PAT) across the Sartorius bioreactor portfolio, including both Biostat STR® Generation 3 and Biostat® RM systems.
Since partnering in 2013, Aber’s capacitance-based biomass probe technology has been adapted into a disposable sensor format, achieving parity in performance with the original reusable format and built to be gamma-sterilizable, USP Class VI compliant, and compatible with Sartorius Flexsafe® formats.
Ambr® 250 High Throughput supports at-line integration of a cell counter, metabolite analyser and BioPAT® Spectro Raman analysis, streamlining cell and media analysis based on automated bioreactor sampling. The addition of BioPAT® Viamass provides high-resolution real-time viable biomass measurement directly in the cell culture, enabling direct inline monitoring of cell growth and advanced, precise analysis.
This new single-use Viamass solution aligns with Sartorius Stedim Biotech's Biostat STR® Generation 3 and Biostat® RM systems:
- Biostat STR® Generation 3 systems (50–2,000 L) already support BioPAT® Viamass for online biomass monitoring, complementing optical pH, DO, BioPAT® Trace sensors and advanced PAT analytics via Biobrain® process automation.
- Biostat® RM (wave-mixed, 1–200 L) similarly supports integrated BioPAT® Viamass combined with other single-use sensors for seed-train scale-out and intensified processes.
The same sensor technology and interfaces from Ambr® 250 High Throughput to Biostat STR® and RM ensure consistent measurement methodology across process development, seed-train intensification, and commercial manufacture.
Matthew Lee, CEO of Aber Instruments, said, “The extension of BioPAT® Viamass into Ambr® 250 High Throughput vessels opens inline biomass monitoring early in development. It bridges the process-scale gap and underpins high throughput PAT as a scalable asset.”
Dr. Franziska Jenner, Head of Product Management, Process Development Bioreactors, Sartorius Stedim Biotech, addedd, “Integrating the disposable BioPAT® Viamass sensor into Ambr® and our larger Biostat STR® and Biostat® RM systems enables true end-to-end PAT continuity. We are thrilled to deliver robust, scalable biomass monitoring to our customers.”