In biopharma, time is always ticking. New therapies and new technologies are pushing boundaries, yet one critical piece of the puzzle often lags behind: bioprocess development.
For decades, scientists have worked within the same boundaries. You set up your bioreactor, feed the cells, wait for days or weeks, and then hope the data shows the improvements you were looking for. If not, it is back to square one. Time, money, and opportunities slip away with each new experimental cycle.
But a new question is changing how companies think:
What can virtual experimentation do for bioprocess development?
This single question is reshaping how companies approach innovation, risk, and speed. Let’s explore why.
What Is Virtual Experimentation?
Let’s start simple. Virtual experimentation means running “what if” experiments on a computer instead of in a lab.
Instead of physically feeding cells different nutrients or changing temperature profiles, scientists create a digital twin — a model that behaves like the real bioprocess. They use advanced algorithms to predict how cells would grow, how metabolites would shift, and how product quality would change under different conditions.
And here’s the magic:
A bioreactor run that takes 14 days in the lab might take only seconds in a virtual environment.
Instead of testing one condition at a time, you can explore thousands or millions of scenarios in a single afternoon.
It’s not just a faster way to run experiments. It’s a fundamentally different way of thinking about process development.
Why is virtual experimentation so powerful?
Virtual experimentation changes the rules because it overcomes the limits of time, resources, and human capacity. Here’s how:
It Makes Time Almost Irrelevant
Traditionally, every new hypothesis costs weeks. Want to see what happens if you adjust glucose feeds on Day 5? That’s another two weeks tied up in a bioreactor run.
With virtual experimentation, you can test that scenario in seconds. And not just one variation — hundreds of versions. This speed changes how scientists work.
Instead of designing one cautious experiment at a time, they can think boldly, exploring entire process spaces without fear of wasting resources.
It Reveals Hidden Interactions
Bioprocesses are complicated. Parameters like temperature, pH, feed rates, and dissolved oxygen interact in ways that are hard to predict.
In the lab, testing these interactions is practically impossible. There’s simply no way to physically explore millions of combinations.
Virtual experimentation makes it possible. Models can simulate how parameters influence each other, revealing patterns and risks that would stay hidden otherwise.
It’s like moving from feeling your way through the dark to switching on a floodlight.
It Cuts Costs Significantly
Each bioreactor run is expensive. You pay for media, gases, plasticware, labor, equipment time, and downstream analysis. Multiply that across dozens or hundreds of runs, and the cost skyrockets.
Virtual experiments dramatically reduce this burden. You might only need a fraction of the physical runs to confirm predictions, leading to:
Lower material costs
Less demand on lab staff
More efficient use of equipment
Some companies report reducing wet lab experiments by as much as 80 percent after implementing virtual experimentation.
It Lowers Risk
Virtual experimentation helps you identify trouble spots before committing resources. For example:
Are certain pH ranges linked to drops in product quality?
Does increasing feed too early spike unwanted metabolites?
Are there narrow safe windows for dissolved oxygen levels?
Instead of discovering these issues the hard way — after wasting weeks — you can flag them virtually and avoid costly mistakes.
It Creates a Bridge to Regulatory Confidence
One reason some companies have hesitated to embrace AI-driven tools is fear of the “black box.” Regulators want to know why a decision was made, not just what the decision is.
Virtual experimentation platforms like SimCell use explainable AI. They provide logic-based outputs, heatmaps, and parameter insights that scientists — and regulators — can understand.
This builds trust and smooths conversations with quality and regulatory teams.
A Day in the Life: Virtual Experimentation in Action
Let’s make this concrete. Imagine you’re worried about lactate buildup in a monoclonal antibody process. Traditionally, you’d adjust glucose feeds and run a 14-day bioreactor experiment. Then analyze samples. Then decide whether to try again.
With virtual experimentation, you can:
Model lactate behavior across hundreds of glucose feeding strategies.
Visualize predicted trends for cell density, metabolites, and product titer.
Identify the glucose strategy most likely to reduce lactate without hurting yield.
All this can happen before you step into the lab.
How SimCell Makes It Possible
At the center of virtual experimentation at AnalysisMode is SimCell.
SimCell acts as a digital twin of your bioprocess. It can:
Forecast how your process behaves under new conditions.
Explore millions of parameter combinations instead of just a few.
Highlight safe zones and danger zones through visual outputs like heatmaps.
Provide explainable insights so you know why the model makes each recommendation.
And crucially, it does it fast. A simulation that might have required two weeks in the lab now happens in seconds.
Virtual and physical experiments go hand-in-hand
One important truth: virtual experimentation does not eliminate the need for labs. The lab remains critical for final confirmation, regulatory submissions, and scale-up testing.
But virtual experimentation makes every physical experiment smarter. You enter the lab already knowing:
Which conditions are most promising.
Where risks are hiding.
How the process is likely to behave.
This combination of virtual insight and physical validation creates faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective development.
Virtual experimentation is not just a new tool—it is a new way of thinking. It gives bioprocess teams the ability to explore ideas faster, reduce risks, and approach every lab run with clearer insight and greater confidence. The future of bioprocess development will belong to those who combine the creativity and precision of the lab with the speed and intelligence of virtual tools.
If you are ready to discover what virtual experimentation can unlock for your processes, now is the perfect time to take the first step. Let’s make your next breakthrough happen faster than ever.
Interested in testing your craziest ideas?
Virtual experimentation is not just a new tool. It’s a new way of working.