UCL ADVANCED CENTRE FOR
Biochemical Engineering
In this issue
EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Emergent
Macromolecular Therapies Developments
Industrial Doctoral Training Centre Success
iGEM Gold
MBI® Programme Developments
ISSUE TEN | APRIL 2013
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Contents
Departmental News
Editorial
3
EPSRC Centre for Innovative
Manufacturing in Emergent
Macromolecular Therapies Latest Developments
7
Our Undergraduate
Crooks Society
11
VISION News
12
IDTC News: iGEM Gold 14
Industrial Training
Open Day
16
Industrial Biotechnology
& Biorefining MBI® CPI Success
17
Single Use MBI®
18
MBI® Course Dates
20
Foreword by Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker
I am often asked what is the secret to the success of UCL
Biochemical Engineering. There is no secret other than the
staff, the students and the support of those we work with!
This issue of Bioprocessing Matters highlights just some
of the ways in which these three elements come together
to make the department what it is. As ever the articles
demonstrate the wide variety of activities we are involved
with and it is always exciting to see how these have often grown from really small
ideas into major opportunities.
We have hugely energetic student societies. Our undergraduates for example,
have created a truly impressive programme of careers events bringing in high
level speakers from a diversity of companies. This kind of initiative not only helps
to forge relationships but cements in people’s minds the unique qualities of our
students.
Our staff are constantly innovating and in this issue you will read about read
about our BBSRC Sparking Impact Award and our new EPSRC and ERA-Net
awards in Industrial Biotechnology. Such initiatives are key to the success of the
department as we move forward and into a period in which it shall be critical to
diversify the sources of funding we use to grow our activities.
The industry we work with is, I think, unusually cohesive. This is important
for a relatively new academic discipline and here at UCL we enjoy and benefit
from a totally unparalleled level of sector support. This allows us to engage in
strategic initiatives on both the research and training fronts. Great examples are
highlighted in this issue of BPM including our latest EPSRC Centre where the
user support is fundamental and also a report on our Industrial Training Open
Day.
Thank you for your support. I hope you find the contents of this issue
interesting, and as ever look forward to receiving feedback.
Prof. Nigel Titchener-Hooker
Head of Department and Director of the Advanced Centre for Biochemical
Engineering
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Prof Nigel Titchener-Hooker wins
Donald Medal
Our Head of Department, Professor Nigel Titchener-Hooker has
been awarded the prestigious Donald Medal by the Council of
the Institution of Chemical Engineers. The
medal, awarded for individual contribution to
biochemical engineering, is named after a former
UCL Ramsay Professor.
Professor Mike Hoare wins
Alan S. Michaels Award
Congratulations to Professor Mike Hoare on being the 2013 Alan
S. Michaels awardee. This is a prestigious award presented by the
Division of Biochemical Technology (BIOT) of the American
Chemical Society (ACS). The award recognises his many
contributions to the field, but in particular his seminal contributions
to downstream processing including pioneering studies of ultra
scale-down and advances of industrial
®
relevance to key unit operations.
CosmoClear – YES
A team of aspiring biotechnology entrepreneurs from UCL Biochemical
Engineering have scooped a prize at the Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs
Scheme (YES) 2012 in London.
The team behind the CosmoClear company had the idea of patenting a specific
combination of probiotic bacteria able to control oily skin. ProBaClearTM
provides a unique alternative to chemical products
currently available which can have negative effects on the
condition of the skin. This won them the ‘Best plant and
microbial business plan’ category sponsored by Syngenta.
Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts
said, “The participants in this competition have shown
that there is a bright future ahead for biological science.
This is one of the most vibrant and increasingly important
sectors of the UK. They are developing the skills needed to
translate world class research into wider economic and social
benefits.”
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DEPARTMENTAL news
Departmental News
John Thwaites, Giulia Detela,
Yvonne Pang, Leanne Partington,
and Thomas Iwan.
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DEPARTMENTAL news
Dr Karen Smith elected FSB and
AFIChemE
Dr Karen Smith has been elected a Fellow of the Society of Biology
and as Associate Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers
(IChemE).
Prof John Ward joins academic staff
Prof John Ward studied Biochemistry at the University of Bristol
and graduated in 1975. He moved departments and joined the
Department of Bacteriology to carry out research for his PhD on
antibiotic resistance plasmids and transposable elements using the
newly discovered restriction enzymes. After gaining his doctorate in
1981 he moved to UMIST in Manchester to a postdoctoral position
on Pseudomonas catabolic plasmids. In 1983 he came to University
College and started the MSc in Applied Molecular Biology and
Biotechnology and in 2011 started the MRes in Synthetic Biology.
John will provide fundamental bioscience support for our activities
in Synthetic Biology across all aspects of departmental activity.
Dr Sofia Simaria joins academic staff
Dr Sofia Simaria has been appointed as Lecturer in Bioprocess
Systems Engineering in the Department of Biochemical
Engineering in November 2012. She has a PhD in Industrial
Engineering and has joined UCL in 2008 to work as postdoctoral research associate in the area of Decisional Tools. Her
research focuses on the development of computer-based decisionsupport models that capture the process-business interface of
biopharmaceutical and cell therapy manufacture.
Sofia coordinates the new MEng/MSc course module Bioprocess
Systems Engineering, designed to provide students with skills in
advanced modelling, optimisation and statistical techniques such
that they are adequately equipped to address problems related
to evaluating the cost-effectiveness and robustness of alternative
bioprocess design strategies.
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In the previous issue of BPM we reported on new directions that UCL
biocatalysis research is taking with the award of a BBSRC grant to work on
aspects of biorefinery processing for UK-based bioethanol production. In the
last six months this has been followed up with a series of major grant wins
many of them to establish new engineering and synthetic biology tools to speed
biocatalytic process development. This led to a visit on 7th March by the Minister
for Science, David Willetts, who toured ACBE pilot plant facilities and met with
representatives from the UCL spin-out company Synthace.
First there was the award of a £1.92M EPSRC grant to Prof Gary Lye,
Prof John Ward and Dr Paul Dalby (UCL Biochemical Engineering) and
Prof Helen Hailes and Dr Tom Sheppard (UCL Chemistry) to work on ‘Bioderived feedstocks for sustainable, UK-based manufacture of chemicals and
pharmaceutical intermediates’. This is in collaboration with colleagues at
Imperial College and the University of Bath and involves 11 company partners
including British Sugar and GlaxoSmithKline.
This was followed by EU funding success from the ERA-NET programme
in Industrial Biotechnology. Dr Nicolas Szita and Dr Frank Baganz
(UCL Biochemical Engineering), together with collaborators from
four other European universities, including the Technical University
of Denmark, won a €1.8M grant on ‘Microtools for downstream
processing’ to develop a microscale downstream processing toolbox
for screening and development of biocatalytic processes. Dr Martina
Micheletti and Prof Gary Lye (UCL Biochemical Engineering)
were also part of a successful £2.3M ERA-IB grant to work on
‘Integrative approach to promote hydroxylations with novel P450
enzymes for industrial processes’. This grant is led by the German
company c-LEcta and involves six academic and industrial partners
in Germany and Belgium.
Most recently Dr Frank Baganz and Dr Chris Grant
(UCL Biochemical Engineering) were involved in a £430k
Technology Strategy Board grant to work on ‘rapid engineering
of cellular factories’ in collaboration with the University of
Manchester. This is led by the spin-out company Synthace and aims
to advance the industrial application of synthetic biology.
For further information on UCL Industrial Biotechnology
research please contact Prof Gary Lye:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 7942 or Email: Lye ay g.lye@ucl.a.uk
DEPARTMENTAL news
Ministerial Visit Following
Further Industrial
Biotechnology Funding
Success
Minister for Science, David
Willetts with Dr Chris Grant
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DEPARTMENTAL news
Our students make a
difference –volunteering in
Sri Lanka
For 5 weeks, UCL Biochemical Engineering student Stephan Joseph ran activities
at children’s homes and special needs centres, and taught English to unemployed
youths aged 18-25 in Sri Lanka on a project run by SL Volunteers.
Project Manager, Lucy Nightingale said “We value students that study
Biochemical Engineering, as they have the skill set that we are looking for. Having
Stephan being so positive, hardworking and committed to the projects has meant that
our organisation has improved a lot over the summer.”
For further information see www.slvolunteers.com
MBI® and VISION Twitter pages
We have recently launched Twitter pages for both MBI® and VISION and hope
that you will ‘follow’ us at: @UCL_MBI and @UCL_VISION
to hear all our latest thoughts on the post-experience training front and interact
with us.
Sparking Impact Award
We are delighted to announce that we have won a BBSRC Sparking Impact
Award. This Award of £100k will enable us to fund the kind of highly varied and
small scale knowledge exchange and commercialisation (KEC) activities required
at the earliest stages of progressing research outcomes towards impact.
The Principle Investigator for this award is Prof John Ward and the
administration of the funding will be undertaken by the Office of the ViceProvost (Enterprise).
Strategic priorities are to enhance and expand the use of Biotechnology
advances by UK companies. Examples of these advances include new enzymes
in industrial processes and novel routes to identify these, strategies to improve
enzymes or bioprocesses to generate bio-derived compounds or materials. Also
new biologically active compounds.
We would also want to carry out the preliminary market research to develop
ideas and build the means whereby researchers could develop and start their own
companies based on their BBSRC funded research.
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Flagship research
The centre funded initially for five years by the Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council is now in its second year. A
team of eight PDRAs are engaged on two linked flagship projects
which account for 60% of the Centre budget.
The first flagship project led by Paul Dalby seeks to establish a framework for
rapid determination of manufacturability of bulk product and final dosage
form. This research flagship aims to create indices that rank macromolecular
products in terms of their manufacturability as a) the bulk active drug substance
and b) the final drug product in a patient dosage form. These indices will act as
early predictors of bioprocess performance. Such ranking would allow decision
makers to weigh up manufacturability and product dosage form options along
with their knowledge of potential clinical efficacy, to select the most promising
proteins from panels of candidates, and eliminate those most likely to fail due to
difficulties in bulk product manufacture and final formulation.
The second flagship led by Dr Suzy Farid is developing decision-support tools for
biomanufacturing lifecycle analysis under uncertainly. This flagship research
aims to:
• Generate a biomanufacturing lifecycle evaluation tool to enable the costs
of manufacture, as well as the costs of treatment, to be predicted as a
consequence of the decisions made during manufacture and product design.
• Establish a decision-support optimisation tool to locate the most costeffective combination of process parameters, process sequence, formulation
method and facility design whilst assessing manufacturing robustness under
uncertainty.
• To develop advanced multivariate analysis tools to predict the degree of
facility fit and root causes of product loss when optimal processes are
transferred into existing facilities.
EPSRC Centre
Developments
EPSRC Centre For
Innovative
Manufacturing in
Emergent
Macromolecular
Therapies
Developments
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EPSRC Centre
Developments
CANDIDATE MOLECULES
F1.1
F1.2
Ranking of protein
properties
Cause-and-effect from
USD data
Led by
Paul Dalby, UCL BE
Steve Brocchini, UCL SoP
Led by
Nigel Titchener-Hooker, UCL BE
Lazaros Papageorgiou, UCL CE
CANDIDATE MOLECULE
F2.1
F2.2
F2.3
Lifecycle costs
Lifecycle optimization
Facility fit
Led by
Suzanne Farid, UCL BE
Steve Morris, UCL/UCLH
Led by
Suzanne Farid, UCL BE
Lazaros Papageorgiou, UCL CE
Led by
Nina Thornhill, Imperial CE
Suzanne Farid, UCL BE
National Centre for Doctoral Training in
Macromolecular Therapies
In 2012 funding was won for a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) linked
to the EPSRC Centre. The CDT is being delivered in partnership with other
leading research universities and is helping to build an enhanced network of
research collaborations based on the EPSRC Centre.
Five doctoral projects started in 2012 and a further five are expected to start in
autumn 2013.
Platform Activities
The Flagship projects are complemented by a programme of Platform events and
activities that are intended to establish the Centre as a national resource and to
broaden its research base by growing the number of collaborations.
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Research progress over the first year was reported at the first annual research
meeting held on 18th September 2012 with a focus on the launch of the
Responsive Bioprocessing Facility. The event was titled Biomanufacturing: New
Challenges & New Paradigms and was attended by over a 100 delegates. Three
keynote talks were given by industry leaders in single-use bioprocessing as well as
presentations providing an overview of the Centre and Departmental activity in
this area and the meeting.
Programme for Biomanufacturing:
New Challenges & New Paradigms
EPSRC Centre Flagship Research
Nigel Titchener-Hooker/
Paul Dalby/
Suzanne Farid, UCL
keynote: Robotic Platform for Rapid Delivery
Markus Zamponi, Bayer
keynote: Implementation of Integrated
Kevin Brower, Genzyme
keynote: Implementation of Disposable
Sandrine Dessoy, GSK
Responsive Bioprocessing facility (RBF) –
Research & Training Agenda
Gary Lye, UCL
Engineering Characterisation of Single-use
Bioreactors for Improved Process Predictability
Martina Micheletti, UCL
Evaluating the Cost-effectiveness of Single-use
Technologies for Cell Therapies
Suzanne Farid, UCL
of Personalised Vaccines
Continuous Bioprocessing for Biologics
Bioreactors for Viral Vaccines Process
Development
EPSRC Centre
Developments
1st Annual Research Meeting
Innovation workshop at the 9th Annual
bioProcessUK Conference in Bristol 29th
November 2012
BioProcess UK invited Dr Suzy Farid to organise a 90 minute workshop
at its annual conference to explore the issues and drivers for innovation in
biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The object of the workshop was to access the
experience of practitioners in the UK to understand better the challenges and
opportunities for innovation in this sector. The workshop explored three themes:
• Is Innovation still required if so where?
• How do you balance risk versus benefits when implementing new
technologies?, and
• Is new technology R&D investment directed towards the most pressing issues?
This session received very positive feedback from the delegates and the
proceedings are being summarised for publication to help inform the wider
debate about innovation in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
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EPSRC Centre
Developments
Feasibility Studies
A call for proposals for research feasibility studies aligned to the Centre
programme was issued via EPSRC website in early November 2012. We received
13 outline proposals requesting funding of £230k in total. Five of these, worth
£84k funding have been selected for funding and are expected to start late
March. A sixth project will be taken forward as a CDT studentship.
Selected feasibility studies from November 2012 call
Presenter
Institution
Topic
Mire Zloh
University of
Hertfordshire
Freeze drying, molecular dynamics
simulation
Stephanie Allen
University of
Nottingham
Biopysics; AFM; bioformulation;
bioprocessing
Alexander ‘Sasha’
Golovanov
University of
Manchester
NMR biopharmaceutical proteins
aggregation
Svetlana Ignatova
Brunel University
Analytical aqueous phase
partitioning (AAPP) for the
biophysical characterisation of
protein isoforms/ adenovirus,
liquid-liquid technology, scalability
Dan Bracewell
UCL
Polymeric nanofibre adsorbents
Vaccine Workshop 13th February 2013
In collaborations with the Knowledge Transfer Networks for Biosciences and
for Healthcare and Medtech, the EPSRC Centre organised a workshop on
Vaccines “Getting early stage products into development and manufactureRapid response scale up to emerging disease threats”. Over 75 delegates from
both academic and industrial groups attended. The strong feedback from
those attending suggests that there is a strong interest in further meetings and
community building activities in this area.
EPSRC Centre Bioprocess Briefings
These briefings are an important part of the wider outreach activity for the
EPSRC Centre and are open to anybody from the bioprocessing community.
Bioprocess briefings delivered since October:
• 19th November 2012: ‘Protein Aggregation’. Dr Grant Grieve, Fujifilm
Diosynth Biotechnologies
• 31st January 2013: ‘MALDI-Mass Spectrometry Imaging in Drug Discovery’ Dr
Peter Marshall, GSK
• 7th February 2013: ‘Advances in the manipulation of bioparticles using electric
fields within microsystems’ Dr Henry Fatoyinbo, University of Surrey.
For further information about the EPSRC Centre please contact Prof Nigel
Titchener-Hooker at nigelth@ucl.ac.uk
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The Crooks Society
Our undergraduate Crooks Society has had a busy year organising career talks
across the biopharma, energy and food and drink sectors from: Aggio, Eli Lilly,
Ensus, GSK, IBM, Kraft, Pall, P&G, Shell and Tate & Lyle.
Following the ‘Work hard – play hard ’ adage they also hosted a range
of highly successful networking and social events including bowling, iceskating, a boat party, IChemE pub quiz, summer BBQ and Christmas Ball. A
particular highlight was a trip to Oxford to attend the IChemE Thames Valley
Biotechnology showcase, networking with participating companies (Pall, Lonza,
Patheon, Oxford Biomedica, etc.). One student even managing to secure an
internship from Lonza!
Despite all this activity, they still had the energy to arrange a number of
sporting fixtures such as netball, football and participating in the Frank Morton
Sports Day. Go Crooks!
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VISION
“Connectivity is our strength”
The VISION programme aims to be the nexus for the leaders
of the biological sciences industry to hear and debate the latest
technological and business developments in the sector.
Recent VISION Briefings:
• 5/3/2013: VISION-PALL DAY – Discover Your Future…Today!
• 26/2/2013: A perspective on the future of medical provision. Ray Hill, visiting
Professor of Pharmacology, Dept of Medicine, Imperial College London
• 19/2/2013: Stem cell therapy clinical trials – the rigours ofEU and UK regulation.
Dr Mark Richardson PhD FTOPRA
• 29/1/2013: R&D costs of a new medicine: what are the key drivers?. Dr Jorge
Mestre-Ferrandiz, Director of Consulting, Office of Health Economics
• 6/12/2012: Technology challenges to meet the expanding vaccine boundaries.
Prof Barry Buckland, CEO, BioLogicB
• 27/11/2012: Future of downstream processing and the role of continuous
chromatography. Dr Marc Bisschops, Chief Scientific Officer, Tarpon
Biosystems
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Forthcoming VISION Events
Briefing: 25th April 2013
‘The Role of the Catapult Centres (and the Centre for Process Innovation in
Particular) in Delivering Innovation in Biotechnology’
Speaker: Dr Graham Hillier, Director of Strategy and Technology, CPI
and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. Venue: Executive Front Suite,
Roberts Building, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE. Cost: £50. Time:
17:00
Core Course: 22-24th May 2013
Our next VISION core offering will be held on the 22-24th May 2013 and
is our fourth Senior Leadership Course designed to help real people shape
companies in the sector. Over a period of three days, sector specific talks
from thought leaders, facilitated case studies and interactive problem-solving
exercises will enable you to enhance your capabilities.
Highlights include:
• Pathfinder: Executive Networking Workshop
• Theme 1: Changing Life Cycle and Alternative Business Models
• Theme 2: Leadership and Innovation
• Theme 3: Internal and External Risks and Supply Chain
A range of expert speakers drawn from Europe and the US will include:
• Professor Steve Arlington, Partner, Head of Life Sciences Practice,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Dr Gunter Jagschies, Senior Director Strategic Customer Relations Leader, GE
• Dr Michelle Scott, Partner, Unicorn Biologics
• Dr Andrew Ramelmeier, Vice President of Manufacturing &Facilities,
BioMarin
• Dr. Rahul Singhvi, President, Managing Partner Axella, LLC
• Prof Barry Buckland , CEO of BiologicB
• Dr Alain Pralong, Vice President New Production Introduction and Life
Cycle, GSK
• Vicki Salmon, Partner, IP Asset LLP
After Dinner Talk:
• Charles Cooney, Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and
Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center, M.I.T.
For further information about either please contact Dr Karen Smith at karen.
smith@ucl.ac.uk or Prof Eli Keshavarz-Moore at e.keshavarz-moore@ucl.ac.uk
or see our dedicated VISION website www.vision-ucl.co.uk
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Industrial Doctoral
Training Centre
IDTC NEWS
Industrial Doctoral
Training Centre
(IDTC) Developments
IDTC Success
at iGEM 2012
Two Engineering Doctorate (EngD) students from the UCL
IDTC in Bioprocess Engineering Leadership enjoyed outstanding
success in 2012 as members of the UCL ‘Plastic Republic’ team
competing in the International Genetically Engineered Machines
(iGEM) Synthetic Biology competition.
The team’s hard work was recognised by their being awarded a Gold Medal
at the ultra-competitive European iGEM Finals event in Amsterdam and being
selected to progress to the iGEM World Championship Finals in the USA. At the
Finals UCL’s Plastic Republic were ranked as the top UK iGEM team and also
received the Best Presentation award.
Alexander Templar (EngD in partnership with BJS Biotechnologies Ltd) and
James Rutley (EngD in partnership with Synthace) used cutting edge bioprocess
and synthetic biology techniques to demonstrate the capabilities of a marine
bacterium designed to bio-remediate waste plastic from the Earth’s oceans.
iGEM is an annual student synthetic biology competition started at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2004. Since its inception
iGEM has grown from five participating US universities into an international
competition spanning 193 universities worldwide. Regional finals are held in
Europe, Asia, South America and the east and west coasts of North America,
with the best teams from each region advancing to the World Championship
Finals hosted at MIT.
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Industrial Doctoral
Training Centre
IDTC NEWS
UCL Biochemical Engineering has hosted UCL
‘UCL’s Plastic
iGEM teams since 2009, harnessing its unique position Republic were
as a centre of excellence in whole bioprocessing
ranked as the
(from upstream cell engineering to downstream unit
top UK iGEM
operations) to provide cutting-edge bioscience and
team and
rigorous engineering training. James Rutley led the
also received
Plastic Republic’s efforts to mimic the shear forces
the Best
present in the deep ocean using a shear device to test
Presentation
the ability of marine bacteria to bind and aggregate
award’
microplastic particles. As part of his ongoing EngD
research with the BJS Biotechnologies xxpress® UltraFast
PCR device, Alex Templar helped the team build the
new ‘BioBrick’ DNA constructs used to modify the marine bacterium.
For the first time in the history of the competition, the UCL iGEM team also
collaborated with members of the public in designing and assembling BioBricks.
Translating skills gained at the IDTC, James, Alex and their Plastic Republic
team mates worked with members of the public at the London Hackspace
facilities in the Tech City zone of East London to devise modifications to the
marine bacterium Oceanobulbus indoliflex. Construction of the first ever ‘Public
BioBrick’ then began on site at UCL with iGEM students and Hackspace
members working side by side. The hard work paid off and IDTC researchers
continue to be an important part of UCL iGEM activities for 2013.
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Industrial Training
Open Day
Our Industrial Training Open Day was held on the 7th of
March 2013 and 14 senior industrialists representing the following
companies attended: Astex, Biopharm Services, BP, BPL,
Cambridge Bioprocess Management Ltd, Cantab, eXmoor, GSK,
HPA, Ipsen, ImmBio, Pall, Tillingbourne Consultancy and UCB.
During the Industrial Training Advisory Board (ITAB) and the Industrial
Doctoral Training Centre Board (IDTC) meetings in the morning they heard
about our plans to launch a new MBI® module in Single-use Technologies
in 2014. Another highlight was hearing of the proposed Chamges to the
Mammalion Cell Processes MBI® module.
Prof Gary Lye also spoke about the success of the new MBI® - CPI (Centre
for Process Innovation) Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining module held
at CPI in Wilton in October 2012. He then went on to provide an update on
IDTC recruitment and company participation, achievements of first graduating
cohort and plans for forthcoming EPSRC rebidding. The session was chaired
by Professor John Birch (formerly Lonza Biopharmaceuticals Chief Scientific
Officer).
In the afternoon second and third year undergraduates relished the
opportunity to meet senior industry leaders and ask them questions about
various sectors, careers and internship opportunities in a relaxed afternoon
session “A Cuppa with ITAB”. Over 20 students pitched their questions to the
industrialists who were delighted to provide insight into life at the cutting-edge.
A Poster and Networking session was held during lunch and BPL once again
sponsored the £200 prize for the best poster which this year went to Edward
Close for his poster entitled ‘A model based approach to an adaptive design space
in chromatography’.
Roberts Prizes interviews also took place during the day (the Scholarships
are awarded for first year Biochemical Engineering undergraduates at UCL who
show exceptional promise and commitment to the discipline). The following
students were presented awards at the Departmental Team Briefing by Helen
Mason of BP:
• Andreas Paxinos
• Cathy Pang
• Emily Yuan
• Nadzirah Norazman
• Thomas van Tergouw
For further information about the Industrial Training Open Day or ITAB
please contact Dr Karen Smith at karen.smith@ucl.ac.uk
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Industrial
Biotechnology &
Biorefining MBI® –
CPI Success
The MBI® module “Industrial Biotechnology and
Biorefining: From Synthetic Biology to Process Engineering”
was fully revamped this year as a collaboration with the
Centre for process innovation (CPI) at Wilton. Delegates, who came from organisations such as AB Sugar,
Crucell , GSK, Shell Global Solutions and NEPIC, were given
a mix of background fundamentals, emerging technologies and
real industrial case histories by UCL staff, while CPI provided
access to their large-scale facilities and an overview of the practical
considerations for scaling up biocatalytic reactions. This new collaborative arrangement will be further enhanced in
the coming year with a practical session at CPI to give delegates a
hands-on experience with biocatalytic scale-up.
For further information contact Dr Paul Dalby at p.dalby@ucl.ac.uk
Tim Hughes Award
In recognition of the invaluable contribution Tim
Hughes has made to the Quality by Design for
Effective Bioprocess Characterisation MBI® module
over a 17 year period, we were delighted to present him
with a silver salver to mark the occasion on the 27th
February 2013.
Tim is now based in Australia and so he will contribute to the
module on a less comprehensive basis going forward. Richard
Francis has joined the team seamlessly to assist Dr Suzy Farid in
delivering the module.
Tim is pictured receiving his award from Nigel TitchenerHooker, Head of Department.
The QbD module is an excellent route by which to obtain expert guidance on
choosing on how best to integrate QbD, DoE and PAT into lifecycle approach to
process characterisation.
For further information, please contact Dr Suzy Farid at s.farid@ucl.ac.uk
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Single Use MBI®
The MBI® Training
Programme is run by
the Department and
comprises a series of
UCL accredited short
courses in bioprocessing,
designed specifically
for industrialists. They
can be taken as standalone modules or can be
combined for certificate,
diploma or Masters
qualifications. To date
1,200 modules have
been taught to over 800
international delegates, and
more than 200 companies
have participated.
For further information please
email Dr Karen Smith at
karen.smith@ucl.ac.uk or
telephone 0207 679 4411.
www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemeng/
industry/mbi/courses
Building on the Department’s significant investment in single-use technology
and the recent launch of the UCL Responsive Bioprocessing Facility (RBF) in
September 2012, the Department is now announcing the development of a new
MBI® module based on single-use technology (SUT) for rapid manufacturing.
This represents an exciting new focus that is based on current research activities
in studies such as mixing in different bioreactor systems, evaluation of the
impact of aeration on antibody production and novel culture systems for rapid
optimisation of phototrophic microalgae cultivation. The module will run
from the 2013-14 academic year with course dates set for 9-11 June 2014 and
will complement our current course set by offering fundamental, applied and
practical knowledge on SUT-based bioprocess operations. The aim of the course
is to establish and deliver new training material specific to single-use technology
encompassing different process steps, scales of operation and cell/product
systems. The whole process will be considered and tools useful for the evaluation
and adoption of SUT for a range of process steps will be provided. Numerical
case studies on process fundamentals will provide confidence in scale translation
and in the use of SUT as scale-down models while discussion will focus on
the different stages of the development pathway, from initial discovery and
screening to manufacturing. The course material will be revised yearly depending
on market needs and industrial requirements and in the first few runs aims to
look at critical issues such as standardization, supply chain management, risk of
failure, validation and environmental impact of this technology. While SUT can
be considered relatively well established for monoclonal antibody production, the
course will also consider SUT evaluation for adherent cells systems and microbial
fermentation.
For further information, please contact Dr Martina Micheletti at
m.micheletti@ucl.ac.uk
A group of attendees visiting
the RBF Suite during the 18th
September 2012 launch event
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MBI® Module:
Bioprocess Design and
Economic Evaluation
(24-27th June 2013)
Focussing on how to specify the process and
how to determine its economic feasibility
This module focuses on how to specify a complex bioprocess and
determine its economic feasibility. It will:
• Specify a major item of process equipment.
• Interpret engineering drawings used in equipment procurement.
• Perform economic analyses of the process and determine sensitivities to
process changes.
• Achieve value for money in complex engineering projects.
• Recommend a process that is technically feasible and economically viable.
• Determine the types of data needed to specify unit operations and processes.
• Develop process flowsheets and mass balances.
Who should attend?
This course is designed for engineers, chemists, biologists, biochemists and
biotechnologists who are interested in process design for the manufacture of
biological products. Each concept and topic covered will be explained for the
beginner - an example case study is followed through the bioprocess design
procedure to allow an economic appraisal of the design to be performed. This
learning is carried forward to the following “Bioprocess Facility Design” course
which examines the next stage of a bioprocess design.
Typically delegates are: R&D scientists, engineers or managers who need
to learn more about the typical steps which constitute the preliminary design
process in conjunction with the “Bioprocess Facility Design” course which runs on
the 24-27th June 2013. Flyers for both can be downloaded here:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/biochemeng/industry/mbi/courses
Module Leaders:
Daniel Bracewell and Tarit
Mukhopadhyay
Network:
A social networking event will be held
for delegates and speakers.
Invited Expert Speakers Cost:
•
•
•
•
Andrew Brown, Biopharm Services
Chris Davis, Mott Macdonald
Andy Hooker, Syntaxin Ltd
Angela Osborne, eXmoor pharma
concepts
• Vaughan Thomas, Tillingbourne
Consulting
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The module costs £1300, with a £100
discount if you register and pay
before 22 April.
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Contacts
Research Sponsors:
Dr Karen Smith
Director of Bioprocess
Leadership
+44 (0)20 7679 4411
karen.smith@ucl.ac.uk
MBI®:
Mrs Liz Cullen
MBI® Manager
+44 (0)20 7679 1316
mbi-training@ucl.ac.uk
EPSRC Centre for
Emergent Macromolecular
Therapies:
Professor Nigel
Titchener-Hooker
+44 (0)20 7679 3796
nigelth@ucl.ac.uk
Industrial Biotechnology
and Industrial Doctoral
Training Centre (IDTC)
for Bioprocess Engineering
Leadership:
Professor Gary Lye
+44 (0)20 7679 7942
g.lye@ucl.ac.uk
RegenMed Bioprocessing
Professor Chris Mason
+44 (0)20 7679 0140
chris.mason@ucl.ac.uk
MBI® course dates
2013–14
24–26 June 2013
Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining
30 Sept–2 Oct 2013 Principles of Fermentation Processes
14–16 Oct 2013 Rapid Fermentation Process Design: From Development
to Manufacture
11–14 Nov 2013
Downstream Processing From Cell to Column
25–28 Nov 2013
Downstream Processing: Chromatography
27-29 Jan 2014
Current Challenges in Mammalian Cell Processing
24–27 Feb 2014 tbc Quality by Design for Effective Bioprocess Characterisation
and Validation
24–27 Feb 2014 tbc Advanced Cell Therapy Manufacturing Strategies
10–12 March 2014 Design of Experiments for Bioprocess Optimisation
14–16 April 2014 Vaccine Bioprocess Development and Commercialisation
2–5 June 2014
Bioprocess Design & Economic Evaluation
9–11 June 2014
Single Use Technology for Rapid Manufacturing
23–26 June 2014
Bioprocess Facility Design
For more information, email mbi-training@ucl.ac.uk
Work with us
The UCL Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering actively encourages and
fosters long-term research partnerships between its academics and sponsors for
mutual benefit. We facilitate interaction in a range of ways, such as sponsor visits,
industrial advisory boards, Bioprocess Briefings, industrial placements for graduate
students and the MBI® Programme. Over 70 industrial and academic experts
contribute to our MBI® activities.
If you would like further information, please contact the appropriate member of
staff listed to the left.
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