zenCELLOWL · Workflow

Cell Culture Monitoring — Before & After

See how zenCELLOWL transforms your cell therapy manufacturing process — from manual spot-checks to continuous, documented oversight.

⚠ Current Standard Process

Manual monitoring — blind spots, contamination risk, incomplete documentation

Day 0

Cell Seeding

Cells are seeded into flasks or bioreactor after isolation. Initial cell count and viability measured manually at seeding.

⚠ Risk

Baseline only. No documentation of early morphological changes in the first 24–48 h.

Intermittent

Manual Microscopy Checks

Scientist removes flask from incubator and checks cells under an external microscope.

⚠ Problems

Incubator opened → temperature & CO₂ disruption. Contamination risk per opening. No data between checks — changes can go undetected for hours.

Intermittent

Manual Cell Count

Trypan blue exclusion or hemocytometer. Performed at irregular intervals, highly operator-dependent.

⚠ Problems

High variability between operators. No continuous growth curve. Missed optimal passage / harvest time points.

Reactive

Contamination Detection

Contamination is detected visually — often after it has already spread. Media colour change or turbidity is noticed during a routine check.

⚠ Problems

By the time it’s detected, hours or days of culture — and potentially the entire batch — are lost. No early warning system.

Endpoint Only

Potency / Cytotoxicity Test

CAR-T cells co-cultured with tumor targets. Readout is an endpoint assay (e.g. LDH release) at a fixed time point.

⚠ Problems

Single time point only — killing kinetics and dynamics are invisible. Requires additional assay kits and consumables.

Manual

GMP Documentation

Data entered manually into paper or spreadsheet batch records. Photos taken ad hoc with smartphone.

⚠ Problems

Incomplete, non-standardised records. Time-consuming. Difficult to defend during FDA / EMA audits. Gaps in traceability.

✦ With zenCELLOWL

Continuous, automated, fully documented — inside the incubator, without disruption

Day 0

Cell Seeding

Cells seeded as normal. zenCELLOWL is already positioned in the incubator — imaging starts automatically at T=0.

✦ Benefit

First image captured within minutes. Morphology and confluence baseline documented automatically — no manual step required.

24 / 7

Continuous In-Incubator Imaging

zenCELLOWL captures images at defined intervals — every 30 min, 1 h, or custom — without ever opening the incubator door.

✦ Benefit

Zero temperature or CO₂ disruption. Zero contamination risk from repeated openings. Up to 48× more data points per day vs. manual checks.

AI-Powered

Automated Cell Count & Growth Curve

Custom-trained AI model quantifies confluence, counts cells, and tracks proliferation automatically across the full culture period.

✦ Benefit

Continuous, operator-independent growth curves. Optimal passage and harvest time points are flagged automatically — never missed again.

Proactive

Early Contamination Alert

Morphological deviations, debris accumulation, or abnormal growth patterns are detected within the first imaging interval after onset.

✦ Benefit

Contamination events caught hours earlier. Batch intervention or rescue possible before the culture is lost. Significant cost savings per run.

Time-Lapse

Live Potency / Cytotoxicity Assay

CAR-T / tumor co-culture is imaged continuously. Killing kinetics, cell morphology changes, and effector-to-target dynamics are captured in real time.

✦ Benefit

Full killing curve — not just a single endpoint. Richer potency data with fewer additional reagents. Directly supports product release decisions.

Audit-Ready

Automated GMP Documentation

Every image, timestamp, and analysis result is logged automatically. Exportable batch record with standardised morphology reports and time-lapse data.

✦ Benefit

Complete, traceable documentation — zero manual effort. Fully defensible in FDA and EMA audits. Reduces batch release time significantly.

You are right, if you want:

48×

More imaging data points vs. manual checks

Incubator openings for monitoring

100%

Automated batch record documentation

Ready to eliminate the blind spots?

See zenCELLOWL in action in your cell therapy application — live demo available.