PHC and Sekisui Chemical scale MSC microcarrier culture to 1 L

PHC Corporation and Sekisui Chemical said on October 6, 2026 that a joint validation had scaled up culture of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to 1 L of medium. The test pairs PHC's LiCellGrow automated culture device with a microcarrier that Sekisui is still developing. The carrier is coated with Ceglu, a chemically synthesized cell scaffold that Sekisui makes and sells. According to the companies, the cells kept the good growth and quality they had shown at the earlier, smaller scale. They have not published cell yields, culture times or the quality attributes they measured. Detailed results will be presented at the 26th Congress of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine, held March 18 to 20, 2027, at the Kyoto International Conference Center.

Less stirring, and medium changes timed by metabolism

Microcarriers are small beads that give adherent cells such as MSCs a surface to grow on inside a culture vessel. Sekisui aims its new carrier at cells that are sensitive to shear stress, naming iPS cells and MSCs. The particles are designed so that the culture does not need constant stirring. It relies on medium flow and gentle mixing instead. Sekisui is building the carrier by combining the material design behind Ceglu with technology for making fine particles.

LiCellGrow measures glucose and lactate in the medium continuously with in-line sensors. The user can watch the cells' metabolism change in real time, and the device exchanges the medium automatically based on those readings. PHC says the in-line monitoring rests on electrochemical measurement it developed over 30 years of work on blood glucose sensors. The device is for research use only.

The two companies are also evaluating how LiCellGrow monitors metabolic state and controls the culture. The technical details of that control will go to the same congress in Kyoto.

The questions after 1 L

A 1 L run is a step in building a process. The companies say they expect the method to lead to a culture process for real cell manufacturing, but they have reported no work in larger vessels yet. Developers looking at the carrier should also ask how cells are detached from it and harvested, which the companies have not described. Our MSC manufacturing guide explains why marker, differentiation and potency data should be measured again on harvested cells after a move to microcarriers.

PHC says it will expand its offer for scale-up from basic research to commercial manufacturing in cell and gene therapies such as CAR-T. Sekisui plans to apply the carrier to a range of culture devices and systems. It wants to build culture products for regenerative medicine matched to the cell type, such as MSCs or iPS cells, and to the culture scale. The companies said they would show the device, the carrier and the results at their booths at BioJapan 2026 and Regenerative Medicine JAPAN 2026, held October 7 to 9 at Pacifico Yokohama.

The pairing swaps constant stirring for particle design and times medium changes on measured metabolism. Whether the growth and quality seen at 1 L hold in larger vessels will decide if cell manufacturers build it into their processes.