SVI biological isolator facility

SVI's Biological Isolator Facility was established to facilitate the clinical development of human cell-based therapies.

The Facility is housed within an ISO Class 8 certified cleanroom located at SVI's O’Brien Institute Department building on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus. It provides a sterile, fully contained environment suitable for the processing of human cells and tissue. The Isolator comprises nine modules that provide a complete barrier from environmental and operator-borne contamination. Three independent incubators, a water-cooled centrifuge and a microscope are integrated into the system to eliminate the need to perform process steps outside the contained environment.

The processing chambers provide the flexibility of cell and tissue manipulation under various conditions. In addition to temperature control across the Isolator, the levels of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide can be adjusted to optimise processing or culturing requirements for different cell types. The Isolator is also equipped with particle monitoring and volatile organic compound sensors, to enable continual monitoring of air cleanliness.

The Isolator Facility provides a benefit over the conventional cleanroom model of reduced operational costs, processing times and risk to product; while providing a safer and more comfortable environment for operators.