METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF OPTIMIZED TREATMENT CONDITIONS FOR TREATING CELLS WITH ELECTRIC PULSES

The present invention is related to a method and a system for the identification of optimized treatment conditions for medi cal, environmental, food applications, and bio-based industries (including yeast, lactobacilli, algae, and cell tissue produc tion systems, in particular including targeted inactivation, the extraction of bioactive compounds, and the stimulation of cell growth and/or cellular compounds.

It is known that prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells are influenced by the action of electric fields. Stimulation of cell growth, as well as cell death, inactivation of microorganisms, or specific extraction of cell constituents can occur, depending on the ap plied electric field strength (e.g. Buchmann L and Mathys A (2019), Perspective on Pulsed Electric Field Treatment in the Bio-based Industry, Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 7:265, doi:

10.3389/fbioe.2019.00265) .

EP-2 308 969 B1 describes a PEF (pulsed electric field) method where a cell material suspended in an electrically conductive liquid, the cell material being positioned between two elec trodes, by exposure of 1 to 100 electric field strength pulses, such that a voltage increase takes place between the two elec trodes of 10% to 90% of a target voltage of the electric field strength pulses within a period of 0.1 to 100 ns, the electric field strength pulses have a pulse duration of 5 ns to 5000 ns, and the electric field strength pulses, upon reaching the target voltage, have an electric field strength of 0.5 kV/cm to 50 kV/cm, showed an accelerated cell proliferation and/or increased cell constituents. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 2 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

A drawback of this method is that it may take up to several weeks to obtain a feedback as to whether the applied treatment parameters have been suitable. That is, after a treatment in a device such as described in EP-2 308 969 B1 has been performed, it takes some time until it can be evaluated whether the treated cellular material has, for example, grown in a desired manner.

It was the problem underlying the present invention to shorten the time requirements associated with the prior art method, thereby improving the efficiency and economy of such a method.

The above problem has been solved by the present invention.

In detail, the present invention is related to a method for the identification of optimized conditions for treating cells with electric pulses for targeted inactivation, the extraction of bi oactive compounds, and the stimulation of cell growth and/or cellular compounds, comprising the steps of: a) treating samples comprising cellular material under at least one condition, preferably two or more different conditions, b) analysing the results of the treatment in step a) for each of the applied condition (s), c) identifying suitable conditions from the analysis of step b).

According to the present invention, a screening for suitable conditions for treating cells with electric pulses is performed. This screening is performed in a time-efficient manner and thus allows for a fast establishment of suitable treatment conditions for a method for treating cells for targeted inactivation, the extraction of bioactive compounds, and the stimulation of cell growth and/or cellular compounds. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 3 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

According to a first preferred embodiment of the present inven tion, step a) of the above method, i.e. the step of treating samples comprising cellular material under different conditions, is performed in a system where the samples flow through a treat ment area to which varying treatment conditions are applied, and for each of the applied treatment condition a probe is analysed in step b) of the above method, i.e. the step of analysing the results of the treatment in step a) for each of the applied dif ferent conditions.

In step a), samples of cellular material having the same compo sition are treated under varying treatment conditions.

The treatment area through which the sample flows and to which varying treatment conditions are applied, may be a single-flow device. This is a device through with a liquid material flows in one direction. Generally, this may be a device with an inlet and outlet, preferably a cylindrical device with an inlet and an outlet. To at least a portion of said device, electric pulses may be applied, for example using electrodes as described below. The inlet and/or the outlet may be provided with connecting units such as valves, which allow the controlled and/or combined application of separate liquids into said device, and/or the separation of a treated sample into different separate samples.

For the method of the present invention, only small sample sizes are required. For example, a few ml, preferably 1-5 ml, or even a few mΐ, preferably 100-500 mΐ of a sample with cellular mate rial are necessary for each treatment under varying conditions.

According to this embodiment of the present invention, said treatment area is a portion of the single-flow device that is located between electrodes. In other words, electrodes and pref- PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 4 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 erably two electrodes are provided, preferably parallel to one another, alongside the single-flow device, so that an area be tween these electrodes is formed.

The two or more, preferably two, electrodes emit electrical pulses into the portion of the single-flow device that is locat ed between said electrodes. Alternatively, two plates e.g. of a capacitor may be used for this purpose. The electrodes are ar ranged such that said portion of the single-flow device can be penetrated by the electric pulses emitted by said electrodes and an electric field resulting therefrom. Preferably, said elec trodes or plates e.g. of a capacitor are arranged parallel to each other, opposite each other having a distance suitable for the generation of adequate electric fields. Such arrangements are well known and need not be explained in detail here.

Said electrodes or plates e.g. of a capacitor are electrically connected with a unit for generating electric pulses. Such elec trical connections are known and do not have to be discussed in detail here. Such units for generating electric pulses are also generally known. By way of example, cable pulse generators, sem iconductor-based pulse generators, or relaxation oscillators can be mentioned.

Preferably, said system may be a bioreactor. A bioreactor is generally known in the art. A bioreactor is a device or system that supports a biologically active environment. Preferably, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a (bio)chemical process can be carried out which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms. This process can either be aerobic or anaerobic, for example fermentation. Conventional bioreactors are often made of stainless steel. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 5 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said system may comprise one or more lines arranged at said sin gle-flow device. According to the present invention, any line conventionally used for transporting a fluid may be used. Pref erably, the lines are pipes, for example made from stainless steel, tubes or hoses.

The electric field to be applied to the treatment area must be characterized such that it provides for the desired effect, e.g. that it stimulates the growth of the treated cells. Correspond ing electric fields are known from the prior art, for example from EP-2308 969 B1. According to the present invention, an electric field generated from such electric pulses can be used, such that a voltage increase takes place between the two elec trodes or plates of a capacitor of the device of 10% to 90% of a target voltage of the electric pulses within a period of 0.1 ns to 1000 ns, the electric pulses have a pulse duration of 5 ns to 50000 ns, and the electric pulses, upon reaching the target voltage, have an electric field strength of 0.5 kV/cm to 100 kV/cm.

According to a preferred variant of the present invention, the step of treating samples comprising cellular material under dif ferent conditions involves a variation of the electric field de scribed above. Each treatment condition is characterized by s specific pulse duration, a specific electric field strength, and a specific number of applied pulses. Merely by way of example, a variation as follows may be conducted:

1. condition: 5 kV/cm, 100ns, 2-10 pulses

2. condition: 10 kV/cm, 100ns, 2-10 pulses

3. condition: 20 kV/cm, 100ns, 2-10 pulses. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 6 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

In other words, a first sample of a cellular material may be in troduced into the treatment area, and for example the above de scribed first condition may be applied. Subsequently, a second sample of a cellular material may be introduced into the treat ment area, and for example the above described second condition may be applied. Subsequently, a third sample of a cellular mate rial may be introduced into the treatment area, and for example the above described third condition may be applied. In this way, three samples can be obtained in a time-efficient manner, which have been treated under different conditions. Needless to say, the above number of different samples, as well as the above num ber and type of different treatment conditions are not limiting. Step a) can generally be applied to cellular material derived from a single source or multiple sources that are exposed to conditions and procedures as described in step a).

According to another variant of the first embodiment of the pre sent invention, in step a) the sample comprising cellular mate rial is treated under one condition. Said one condition may be one of the conditions described above, e.g. one of conditions 1 to 3 described above. Also the treatment area may be as de scribed above.

Said variant differs in that from said treatment of a sample comprising cellular material under one condition, suitable con ditions may be identified using a machine-learning module. This will be discussed below with respect to step b).

Accordingly, in a preferred embodiment of a subsequent step b) of the method of the present invention, the result of the treat ment in step a) under one applied condition is analysed using a machine-learning module. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 7 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

The machine-learning module can e.g. be based on supervised or unsupervised learning structures, as known in the art.

Preferably, the machine-learning module can e.g. convert the measured parameters into a sequence of assigned binary input codes and process the sequence of the assigned binary input codes by applying a maximum likelihood parameter estimation for the training of a multi-dimensional data structure of the ma chine-learning module with the variable hidden Markov model.

The hidden Markov model is known and does not have to be de scribed in detail here. Generally, it is used to estimate an un known condition (hidden variables) from an observed condition.

According to a preferred variant of the present invention, the above described binary input codes are processed by applying a maximum likelihood parameter estimation. With thus obtained var iable hidden Markov parameters, the training of a multi dimensional data structure of the machine-learning module is conducted, wherein the elements of a sequence of storable param eter states of the Markov chain are assumed to be independent measurements of each other, and wherein the model parameters of the multi-dimensional data structure are varied by maximizing the multiplied product of the probabilities in order to obtain the trained model parameters of the multi-dimensional data structure .

The model parameters of the multi-dimensional data structure can e.g. be iteratively varied until a predefined convergence threshold is triggered. For determining said threshold value of a score indicating or providing a measure for the optimization of the operational parameters, an averaging process can e.g. be PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 8 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 applied based on the different pattern parameters of the sensory and/or measuring data of an identified time frames.

In a variant of said embodiment of the invention, the sensitivi ty of the chosen operational parameters can e.g. be automatical ly tuned based on dynamic adjustments of the threshold value. This embodiment variant has inter alia the advantage, that the convergence speed by training the variable hidden Markov model parameters of the multi-dimensional data structure can be opti mized.

In another preferred embodiment of a subsequent step b) of the method of the present invention, the results obtained in step a) under different conditions are analysed with respect to the de sired characteristics to be achieved, e.g. stimulation of cell growth. The desired characteristics to be achieved are not par ticularly limited. Any characteristic that plays a role for achieving a certain effect of the treated material may be con sidered. For example, the stimulation of cell growth and/or the stimulation of the generation of cellular compounds may be suit able desired characteristics.

According to a preferred variant, step b) is performed directly after step a). In other words, after the sample has left the treatment area, analysis is directly performed. The analytical method may be chosen depending on the desired characteristics to be achieved. For example, for analysing characteristics corre sponding to cell growth and/or cellular compound production, flow cytometry or impedance spectroscopy may be used. Such ana lytical methods are known and need not be discussed here in de tail. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 9 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

Analysis may be performed online, if possible, or by taking a probe and analysing said probe off-line.

According to another variant of the first embodiment, step b) is performed after the treated sample has been cultivated in a cul tivation system, wherein said cultivation system comprises at least one cultivation container, for example an Erlenmeyer flask. In this variant, the sample is thus allowed some time in the cultivation system for manifestation of the desired charac teristics to be achieved, before an analysis is carried out. The duration of the time for manifestation of the desired character istics to be achieved is dependent on the kind of said charac teristics and known to a skilled person. For example, the sample may be given a manifestation time of 0.5-10 days, preferably 2-5 days.

In this variant, differently treated samples may be divided onto different cultivation systems by means of suitable connecting units such as valves, which allow the separation of a treated sample into different separate samples to be cultivated in sepa rate cultivation systems.

Analysis of the desired characteristics to be achieved is car ried out in a unit for analysing the results of a treatment un der at least one treatment condition, preferably two or more varying treatment conditions, and identifying suitable condi tions. Such a unit is known and typically is a processing unit such as a computer. If the variant involving treatment under one condition is used, the unit comprise a machine-learning module as described above.

Typically, said unit for analysing the results of a treatment under at least one treatment condition, preferably two or more PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 10 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 varying treatment conditions, and identifying suitable condi tions receives data from a component of an analyser unit, such as a detector. Once the data of one or several analytical steps with one or varying probes have been collected by the unit for analysing the results of a treatment under at least one treat ment condition, preferably two or more varying treatment condi tions and identifying suitable conditions, said unit may perform a comparison and therewith determine suitable treatment condi tions. Said suitable treatment conditions can subsequently be employed in the actual treatment of cellular material. Said ac tual treatment may involve scale-up treatments for industrial applications. Alternatively, said unit may analyse the result of a treatment under one condition using a machine-learning module, as described above. Preferably, said unit comprises a machine learning module that applies a variable hidden Markov model, as described above.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the method may be performed as a method selected from the groups consisting of a batch method, a fed-batch method, and a continu ous method. These different kinds of methods are known and do not have be explained here.

According to a second preferred embodiment of the present inven tion, step a) of the above method, i.e. the step of treating a sample comprising cellular material under different conditions, is performed in a high-throughput system comprising a treatment area with a plurality of varying treatment conditions.

A high-throughput system is a system that is suitable for high- throughput testing appliances. Preferred are multi-well plates, i.e. a plate having a specific number of wells in which differ ent tests can be carried out. Such multi-well plates are known PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 11 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 and may comprise, for example, 4 to 1536 wells. As an example,

6-, 12-, 24-, 48-, 96-, 384- and 1536—well plates are mentioned. Preferably, according to this second embodiment said plurality of varying treatment conditions are provided in wells of a well- plate.

Typical volumes being analysed in multi well plates are in the range of about 1 to 2 ml, preferably 100 nl to about 500 mΐ, more preferably of about 200 nl to about 20 mΐ.

In the wells of a multi-well plate, suitable conditions for cel lular material may be provided which e.g. sustain cellular growth. Such conditions are known and may involve the use of three-dimensional matrices such as Matrigel® or synthetic matri ces as described in e.g. WO 2014/180970 Al, as well as of cul ture media containing e.g. growth factors.

According to a preferred variant of the second embodiment of the present invention, cellular material is provided in wells of a multi-well plate, preferably in the form of a suspension. Subse quently, said cellular material in those wells is treated under varying treatment conditions. Said varying treatment conditions may be applied by at least one unit.

Said unit for applying said plurality of varying treatment con ditions may be a movable component comprising electrodes, pref erably parallel and/or serial to one another. Said unit may be moved into a well of a multi-well plate. When these electrodes and preferably two electrodes enter the well, an area between these electrodes is formed.

The two or more, preferably two, electrodes emit electrical pulses into the portion of the well that is located between said PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 12 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 electrodes. Alternatively, two plates e.g. of a capacitor may be used for this purpose. The electrodes are arranged such that said portion of the well can be penetrated by the electric puls es emitted by said electrodes and an electric field resulting therefrom. Preferably, said electrodes or plates e.g. of a ca pacitor are arranged parallel to each other, opposite each other having a distance suitable for the generation of adequate elec tric fields. Such arrangements are well known and need not be explained in detail here.

Said electrodes or plates e.g. of a capacitor are electrically connected with a unit for generating electric pulses. Such elec trical connections are known and do not have to be discussed in detail here. Such units for generating electric pulses are also generally known. By way of example, cable pulse generators, sem iconductor-based pulse generators, or relaxation oscillators can be mentioned.

Movement of said unit for applying said plurality of varying treatment conditions may be performed by any suitable known means. For example, a connecting arm operated by an electric mo tor and capable of performing horizontal and vertical movements may be used.

If only one unit for applying said plurality of varying treat ment conditions is used, treatment of the cellular material in the various wells is performed sequentially, by moving said unit into one well after another and performing the different treat ment operations in each well.

According to another variant, a plurality of units for applying said plurality of varying treatment conditions may be used which enable said treatment of the cellular material in the various PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 13 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 wells to be at least partially performed in parallel and/or se rial. Typically, the wells of a multi-well plate are arranged in rows, e.g. in rows of each 8 wells. If an array of 8 units for applying said plurality of varying treatment conditions is pro vided, in all wells of a single or multiple row treatment may be performed in parallel and/or serial. Such array of units may be realized in a conventional manner, by combining said units at an appropriate distance to one another in a suitable support.

Like in the variant with a single unit, the units of such an ar ray are provided with electrodes and are operated in the same manner.

It is understood that each possible variation of arrangements of units for applying said plurality of varying treatment condi tions can be used. The present invention is not limited to the variants specifically described above.

The electric field to be applied to a well of a multi-well plate corresponds to the electric field described above for the first embodiment. Also, the variation of the treatment conditions in the high-throughput screening system may be performed as de scribed above for the first embodiment.

In the variant where only one unit for applying said plurality of varying treatment conditions is used, said unit enters each well sequentially. In different wells, different variations of the electric field may be applied, so that cellular material in different wells may be treated under different conditions.

In the variant where an array of units for applying said plural ity of varying treatment conditions is used, said units may ap ply the same electric field or variations of the electric field PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 14 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 to different wells. This can be carried out with the use of a suitable known controlling device which may provide different units with different electric pulses.

Accordingly, a part or preferably all of the plurality of vary ing treatment conditions are carried out in parallel and/or se rial.

According to another preferred variant of the second embodiment of the present invention, electrodes are provided above and be low the high-throughput system, preferably the wells of a multi well plate. Thus, instead of the unit for applying said plurali ty of varying treatment conditions described above, said treat ment conditions are provided here to the high-throughput system by means of said electrodes.

As described above, also said electrodes, preferably two elec trodes, emit electrical pulses into the portion of the high- throughput system that is located between said electrodes. Al ternatively, two plates e.g. of a capacitor may be used for this purpose. The electrodes are arranged such that said portion of the high-throughput system, preferably the wells of a multi-well plate, can be penetrated by the electric pulses emitted by said electrodes and an electric field resulting therefrom. Prefera bly, said electrodes or plates e.g. of a capacitor are arranged parallel to each other, opposite each other having a distance suitable for the generation of adequate electric fields. Such arrangements are well known and need not be explained in detail here.

Said electrodes or plates e.g. of a capacitor are electrically connected with a unit for generating electric pulses. Such elec trical connections are known and do not have to be discussed in PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 15 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 detail here. Such units for generating electric pulses are also generally known. By way of example, cable pulse generators, sem iconductor-based pulse generators, or relaxation oscillators can be mentioned.

It is possible to arrange a pair of electrodes above and below each well of a multi-well plate, respectively. However, it is preferred to provide two electrodes consisting of an array of portions that may serve as electrodes above and below each well of a multi-well plate. Said electrodes may be operated like the units for applying said plurality of varying treatment condi tions described above.

According to a preferred embodiment, said electrodes are trans parent.

Analysis of the cellular material in the different wells may be performed as described above for the first embodiment. That is, analysis of the desired characteristics to be achieved is car ried out in a unit for analysing the results of a treatment un der at least one treatment condition, preferably two or more varying treatment conditions and identifying suitable condi tions. Such a unit is known and typically is a processing unit such as a computer.

Typically, said unit for analysing the results of a treatment under at least one treatment condition, preferably two or more varying treatment conditions and identifying suitable conditions receives data from a component of an analyser unit, such as a detector. Once the data of several analytical steps with varying probes have been collected by the unit for analysing the results of a treatment under at least one treatment condition, prefera bly two or more varying treatment conditions and identifying PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 16 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 suitable conditions, said unit may perform a comparison and therewith determine suitable treatment conditions. Said suitable treatment conditions can subsequently be employed in the actual treatment of cellular material. Said actual treatment may in volve scale-up treatments for industrial applications.

According to a preferred variant of the second embodiment, said analyser unit may perform the analysis of the cellular material directly in the wells of said well-plate. Suitable analyser sys tems for high-throughput systems are known.

According to another preferred embodiment, from the analysis of step c) suitable conditions are stored in a database and used to determine the initial condition or set of conditions used in a subsequent treatment of cells.

The present invention is furthermore related to a system for performing the method described above, comprising a treatment area to which at least one treatment condition, preferably two or more varying treatment conditions can be applied, and a unit for analysing the results of a treatment under at least one treatment condition, preferably two or more varying treatment conditions and identifying suitable conditions.

As described above, said treatment area may comprise a single flow-through unit to which varying treatment conditions can be applied. Said embodiment of the system of the present invention may be used for performing the method according to the first em bodiment described above.

In this case, the system may further comprise a cultivation sys tem, wherein the cultivation system comprises at least one cul- PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 17 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 tivation container, for example an Erlenmeyer flask, for culti vation of a treated probe before analysis.

As also described above, said treatment area may alternatively comprise a high-throughput system, preferably a well-plate with wells, in which a plurality of varying treatment conditions can be performed. Said embodiment of the system of the present in vention may be used for performing the method according to the second embodiment described above.

In this case, the system may further comprise at least one unit for applying said plurality of varying treatment conditions ei ther sequentially or in parallel to samples comprising cellular material .

Alternatively, the system may comprise electrodes, preferably transparent electrodes, that are integrated into the high- throughput system and which allow for parallel application of said plurality of varying treatment conditions to the high- throughput system.

Details on the system of the present invention and its different variants have been discussed above with respect to the first and second embodiment of the method of the present invention.

With the method and system of the present invention, typically biological material in the form of a suspension is treated.

According to the present invention, said system is suitable for supporting medical, environmental, food applications, and bio based industries (including yeast, lactobacilli, algae, and cell tissue production systems, in particular including targeted in activation, the extraction of bioactive compounds, and the stim- PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 18 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 ulation of cell growth and/or cellular compounds, by selecting suitable treatment conditions. These applications are described in Buchmann L and Mathys A (2019), Perspective on Pulsed Elec tric Field Treatment in the Bio-based Industry, Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 7:265, doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00265.

According to the present invention, electric pulses are applied to a cell material located in the treatment area of the system according to the present invention. As a result, the cell mate rial is subjected to the electric pulses and treated.

According to the present invention, basically any material com posed of at least one cell, that is, both eukaryotic and prokar yotic cells, can be used as the cell material to be treated. The cell material can be unicellular or multicellular organisms. Ex amples would be bacteria, yeasts, microalgae, plant cells, and fungal cells or their spores, mycelia, seeds or seedlings and somatic animal cells or germ cells and mammalian cells. Further more, multicellular tissues such as meristems in plants and epi thelial or connective tissue in humans or animals can be treat ed.

The cell material is usually (but not necessarily) isolated and/or purified in a known manner before being treated according to the invention. Preferably, the cell material can already be propagated in a known manner in suitable and known culture media to a desired degree before the treatment according to the inven tion.

The cell material is preferably suspended in an electrically conductive liquid prior to the treatment according to the inven tion. Electrically conductive liquids are well known. According to the invention, it is necessary to use electrically conductive PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 19 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 liquids which have no adverse effects on cell viability, that is, in particular, are non-toxic. According to the invention, water is preferably used as the electrically conductive liquid, wherein the water can be adjusted to a desired pH value by means of suitable and known additives. According to the invention, a pH value in the range of 6.0 to 14.0, preferably 7 to 12 is pre ferred. According to another preferred embodiment of the inven tion, macro- and micronutrients as well as trace elements can be added for supporting cultivation and/or proliferation of the cells. Such macro- and micronutrients as well as trace elements are known and can be selected by a skilled person depending on the kind of cells.

According to the present invention, the suspensions described above can be prepared in a conventional manner and stored until treatment. However, the suspensions can also be provided immedi ately before the treatment according to the invention.

The present invention further relates to the use of the system according to the present invention described herein for medical, environmental, food applications, and bio-based industries (in cluding yeast, bacteria, microalgae, as well as plant or animal cells and cell tissue production systems, in particular target ing inactivation, the extraction of bioactive compounds, and/or the stimulation of cell growth and/or cellular compounds. These applications are described in Buchmann L and Mathys A (2019), Perspective on Pulsed Electric Field Treatment in the Bio-based Industry, Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 7:265, doi: 10.3389/fbioe. 2019.00265.

With the suitable conditions identified with the method of the present invention, a method for treating cells for stimulating cell growth may be performed, as e.g. described in EP-2308 969 Bl, by subjecting cell material to electric pulses. This method PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 20 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 may be performed in any known suitable device. Preferably, a de vice as described in one of applicant's co-pending applications "Device for treating cells" (PCT/EP2021/052665), "Non-contact device for treating cells" (PCT/EP2021/052667), "Modified treat ment chamber for treating cells" (PCT/EP2021/052674), or "Device for treating cells in a bypass" (EP20208112.1) may be used.

Thus, the present invention is also related to a method for treating cells for targeted inactivation, the extraction of bio active compounds, and the stimulation of cell growth and/or cel lular compounds, comprising the steps of

- identifying suitable treatment conditions in a method as de scribed above,

- introducing cell material into a treatment space, and

- applying electric pulses corresponding to the identified treatment conditions to said treatment space, wherein said electric pulses penetrate the treatment space.

The present invention is explained below by way of non-limiting examples and figures.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a first embodiment of the system of the present invention Fig. 2 shows a schematic representation of a variant of the first embodiment of the system of the present invention that further comprises a cultivation system Fig. 3 shows a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the system of the present invention Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of a variant of the second embodiment of the system of the present inven tion. PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 21 PBHCT073WO-2022081019

In the figures, same references numbers designate the same com ponents .

In Fig. 1, a schematic representation of a first embodiment of the system 1 of the present invention is shown. Said system 1 comprises a unit 4 for generating electric pulses, which by means of electrodes 3a, 3b are emitted into a treatment area 2. Said treatment area 2 is realized here in the form of a single flow-through unit.

Said treatment area 2 comprises an inlet 2a to which a line 5 (here a pipe) is connected that leads the cellular material to be treated into the treatment area.

Said treatment area 2 further comprises an outlet 2b to which a line 6 (here a pipe) is connected for leading the treated cellu lar material out of the treatment area.

If desired, units for regulating the flow (not shown) may be provided. As an example, conventionally used valves or locks may be mentioned.

The two electrodes 3a, 3b emit electrical pulses into the por tion of the single-flow device that is located between said electrodes, as described above.

After the treated cellular material has left the treatment area 2, it is analysed for desired characteristics to be achieved. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, an analyser unit comprising a measurement source 7 such as a laser and a detector 8 is provid ed downstream the treatment area 2 for performing an on-line analysis. Alternatively, an opening for taking a probe could be PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 22 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 provided. The taken probe is then analysed off-line in a suita ble analyser unit.

The analyser unit is connected with a unit 9 for analysing the results of a treatment under varying treatment conditions and identifying suitable conditions. As described above, this may be a processing unit such as a computer.

In Fig. 2, a schematic representation of a variant of the first embodiment of the system 1 of the present invention is shown.

The variant according to Fig. 2 differs in that the analytical step is not performed directly after treatment of the cellular material in the treatment area 2. Rather, the treated cellular material is led into a cultivation system 10, such as an Erlen- meyer flask. In said cultivation system 10, the treated cellular material is kept for a time sufficient for manifestation of the desired characteristics to be achieved. This time is dependent on the kind of said characteristics and known to a skilled per son. For example, the sample may be given a manifestation time of 0.5-10 days, preferably 2-5 days.

In Fig. 3, a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the system 1 of the present invention is shown. In this second embodiment of the system 1 of the present invention, the treat ment area 2 is a high-throughput system in the form of a multi well plate with wells 12. In Fig. 2, merely for the sake of il lustration a plate with 6 wells 12 is shown.

The cellular material to be treated is provided in the wells 12. A unit 11 for applying said plurality of varying treatment con ditions is provided on a connecting arm (not shown) that moves said unit 11 from one well to the other. Treatment is conducted here in a sequential manner. In Fig. 3, the analytical unit as PBHCT073WO 717.06.2022 23 PBHCT073WO-2022081019 well as the unit 9 for analysing the results of a treatment un der varying treatment conditions and identifying suitable condi tions is not shown. In Fig. 4, a schematic representation of a variant of the second embodiment of the system of the present invention is shown.

Here, transparent electrodes 3a, 3b are provided above and below the treatment area 2 being a high-throughput system in the form of a multi-well plate with wells 12, instead of the unit 11 of the variant of Fig. 3. In Fig. 4, the analytical unit as well as the unit 9 for analysing the results of a treatment under vary ing treatment conditions and identifying suitable conditions is not shown.