Whitepaper: Detection of mycoplasma in biopharmaceuticals vaccines and gene cell therapies

Mycoplasma are a form of bacteria that are characterized by the absence of a cell wall surrounding the cell membrane.

This renders them inert to many familiar antibiotics, including the beta-lactams, whose activity relies on cell wall disruption. Many different mycoplasma are pathogenic in humans, and they are also commonly found as contaminants in cell cultures. Although the contamination does not create turbidity, factors such as cell line growth rates and viral vaccine production can be adversely affected. This clearly poses a problem for processes that involve cell culture, and thus, being able to detect them is important.