Leverage Thermo Fisher’s Rotea for Microbubble Cell Separation

The Thermo Fisher Rotea system is a trusted tool for automated cell washing, buffer exchange, and concentrating cells in clinical and research workflows. However, upstream T cell isolation still presents a challenge—one that often adds time, complexity, and unnecessary cell loss to the process.

Now, there’s a simple way to enhance the Rotea workflow without adding hardware or disrupting your protocols. Akadeum Life Sciences’ microbubble kits enable negative T cell selection in a closed system that integrates directly with the Rotea platform.

This seamless, reagent-based solution improves starting material quality in under an hour, delivering high-purity, high-yield T cells—no magnets, columns, or extra equipment are required. Whether you’re optimizing CAR T production or improving upstream consistency, integrating cell isolation with the Rotea system just got easier.

Thermo Rotea Users Face Familiar Challenges

The Thermo Fisher Rotea system is widely used to automate washing, concentrating, and buffer exchange steps across diverse cell therapy workflows. Its closed, sterile setup and flexible programming make it a valuable tool in GMP settings. But like most cell washing instruments, Rotea is not designed to isolate specific immune subsets, especially with the level of purity and recovery needed for downstream modification or expansion.

As a result, users must rely on additional cell separation technologies that face challenges such as:

• Cell loss during wash steps due to manual handling or suboptimal separation
• Inconsistent recovery rates, especially when input material varies by donor
• Workflow inefficiencies from performing enrichment on separate platforms
• Limited throughput when multiple systems are needed for cell preparation

These issues can lead to reduced viability, increased operator time, and suboptimal outcomes in downstream processes, such as activation or gene editing. Rotea users require a straightforward, scalable method for performing upstream cell separation without disrupting the existing workflow or incurring additional equipment costs.

Akadeum’s microbubble kits offer that solution.

Benefits of Integrating Microbubbles

Akadeum’s microbubble technology offers a modern, scalable solution to one of cell therapy’s most overlooked steps: upstream T cell enrichment. For Rotea users, integrating microbubbles into your existing workflow provides multiple benefits without adding operational burden.

Higher Cell Recovery and Purity

In a recent integration case study, Akadeum’s Human T Cell Leukopak Isolation Kit delivered an average CD3+ cell purity of 93.7% and average recovery of 72.3%, with minimal handling and no specialized equipment. These metrics support a more reliable input for downstream steps, reducing activation, editing, and expansion variability.

Figure 1. T cell isolation using Akadeum’s microbubbles was integrated into the Thermo Fisher Rotea workflow following standard cell washing and concentration steps. The resulting protocol achieved an average purity of 93.7% for CD3+ cells and 72.3% recovery across donors in under 60 minutes. See full protocol and data in the application note.

Faster Processing, Fewer Touchpoints

The complete isolation protocol—antibody incubation, microbubble binding, buoyant separation, and final harvest—takes under one hour and occurs entirely within a closed system. Reducing transfer steps means fewer opportunities for sample loss, contamination, or cell stress.

Works with What You Already Have

The integration was designed around standard Rotea consumables and blood transfer bags. No additional capital investment or retraining is required. This plug-and-play approach enables your team to start improving upstream results without modifying your embedded infrastructure.

Consistent Performance at Any Scale

Unlike magnetic systems requiring columns or magnetic beads, microbubble-based negative selection is not limited by scale. Whether processing 100 million cells or 20 billion, Akadeum’s protocol stays the same, making moving from process development to commercial manufacturing easier.

How to Integrate Microbubbles with the Rotea System

Integrating Akadeum’s microbubble technology with the Thermo Fisher Rotea system is straightforward. The process builds on Rotea’s existing role in washing and concentrating cells, while adding a powerful enrichment step upstream of activation or expansion.

Here’s how it works:

1. Start with washed and concentrated leukopak material. Use the Rotea to perform a platelet wash, buffer exchange, and concentration. The recommended target is a concentration of 200-400 million cells/mL.
2. Transfer cells to a 150 mL blood transfer bag. This bag serves as an isolation chamber, allowing you to maintain a closed, sterile setup.
3. Add Akadeum’s antibody cocktail. Mix end-over-end for 15 minutes to bind unwanted, non-CD3+ cells.
4. Add Akadeum microbubbles. Continue end-over-end mixing for another 15 minutes to bind and buoyantly label the previously tagged cells.
5. Suspend the bag from the Rotea sample pole. Let it rest for 15 minutes. During this time, buoyant microbubbles rise to the top of the bag, separating the bound cells from the CD3+ population.
6. Reconnect to Rotea for harvest. Weld the bag to a Rotea consumable and run a custom 10-minute protocol to collect the isolated CD3+ T cells.

This protocol integrates seamlessly into existing workflows and requires no modifications to Rotea hardware or software. It’s a fast, efficient enhancement for upstream processing—and a meaningful upgrade to your therapeutic cell starting material.

FAQs

What are the key benefits of using microbubbles?

Microbubbles enable fast, gentle, and scalable T cell enrichment. Because they operate via buoyancy instead of mechanical force or magnetic fields, they minimize stress on cells and preserve their functional phenotype. Integration requires no additional capital equipment, making it ideal for teams seeking to enhance upstream inputs without expanding their infrastructure.

How does integration affect workflow efficiency?

The microbubble enrichment step adds less than one hour to the process and fits directly within the Rotea’s existing handling setup. There are no extra centrifugation or filtration steps, and all components are compatible with closed-system consumables. This integration streamlines your workflow by combining cell washing and enrichment into a simplified process.

Rethink What’s Possible with Rotea + Microbubbles

Akadeum’s microbubble kits bring new power and precision to the Thermo Fisher Rotea system—delivering enhanced purity and recovery with a streamlined, sub-hour protocol that fits seamlessly into your existing workflow.

No new hardware. No complicated setup. Just better cells, in less time, within a smaller footprint.

Whether optimizing upstream inputs or scaling a new therapy, integrating microbubbles can accelerate your process and enhance downstream outcomes.

• Download the application note to see the full workflow.
• Contact us to request an evaluation kit.
• Explore our cell therapy products to get started.

Your next cell therapy upgrade starts upstream with Akadeum.