Bioprocessing Network: BioProNET
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Kent
Department Name: Sch of Biosciences
Abstract
Biologics are complex molecules made by cellular processes and such biological products have major economic and social value for the UK and globally. Biologics encompass a range of molecules of therapeutic (e.g. biopharmaceutical molecules such as insulin and antibodies like Herceptin) and non-therapeutic (e.g. diagnostics, industrial enzymes, drug screening, crystallization / structural studies) use. The UK has been especially innovative in developing processes for commercial scale production (bioprocessing) of therapeutic proteins (biopharmaceuticals) in particular, that have the potential to treat otherwise intractable diseases. The area also directly employs a large work force in the UK and has direct social and economic impacts on the UK. However, the continued development and commercialization of such biologics requires further step-changing innovation if the full potential return to the UK is to be realised. Bioprocessing presents an economic success story and sales of biopharmaceuticals are estimated to be >$320B by 2020. The economic value and ever-increasing importance of these molecules in healthcare adds significantly to healthcare costs and, in the case of biopharmaceuticals in particular, there is pressure to design, develop and manufacture biopharmaceuticals more efficiently, predictably, and affordably.
This proposal sets out to develop a vibrant academic-led UK network (BioProNET) of expertise that will bring together academics, industrialists and other interested groups to integrate the expertise of practitioners working on production (bioprocessing) of biologics of therapeutic use as well as those of non-therapeutic use. The Network will focus on biological processes that underpin the development, engineering, manufacturing and monitoring of functionally active biologics to address production of molecules of greater design complexity. The vision and perspectives of multiple scientific disciplines, including life scientists, biochemical engineers, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, computational scientists, and social scientists will be applied to the research challenges of biological process in the manufacture of biologics, both products of therapeutic use (e.g. biopharmaceuticals) and those of non-therapeutic use (e.g. biosensors, drug development and screening, diagnostics). Within the network we will consider the social, environmental and economic implications of development of the area and whether the sustainability of manufacturing of biologics can be improved. The Network shall maintain the UK bioprocessing sector (by harnessing the breadth of knowledge held in the different communities that will be brought together to develop and extend beyond today's systems into those that will be needed to compete on the world stage over the next 25 years) at the international forefront, whilst establishing step-changing and innovative solutions for the production of the next generation of biologics. By enhancing cost effectiveness of bioprocessing, the sector will move towards more affordable biologics/biopharmaceuticals for sustainable and healthier lifestyles.
This proposal sets out to develop a vibrant academic-led UK network (BioProNET) of expertise that will bring together academics, industrialists and other interested groups to integrate the expertise of practitioners working on production (bioprocessing) of biologics of therapeutic use as well as those of non-therapeutic use. The Network will focus on biological processes that underpin the development, engineering, manufacturing and monitoring of functionally active biologics to address production of molecules of greater design complexity. The vision and perspectives of multiple scientific disciplines, including life scientists, biochemical engineers, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, computational scientists, and social scientists will be applied to the research challenges of biological process in the manufacture of biologics, both products of therapeutic use (e.g. biopharmaceuticals) and those of non-therapeutic use (e.g. biosensors, drug development and screening, diagnostics). Within the network we will consider the social, environmental and economic implications of development of the area and whether the sustainability of manufacturing of biologics can be improved. The Network shall maintain the UK bioprocessing sector (by harnessing the breadth of knowledge held in the different communities that will be brought together to develop and extend beyond today's systems into those that will be needed to compete on the world stage over the next 25 years) at the international forefront, whilst establishing step-changing and innovative solutions for the production of the next generation of biologics. By enhancing cost effectiveness of bioprocessing, the sector will move towards more affordable biologics/biopharmaceuticals for sustainable and healthier lifestyles.
Technical Summary
This application describes the formation of a new academic-led network (BioProNET) in the field of bioprocessing and biologics, that engages academics, industrialists and other special interest groups to accelerate innovation and deliver change in this area, ensuring that the UK academic research agenda is world-leading, industrially-relevant and recognised globally as a leading network in the sector and the go-to place for collaborative research. The proposed Network will thus establish an internationally-recognized, sustainable and integrated cross-disciplinary network able to address major research challenges in the area of bioprocessing and non-therapeutic (e.g. diagnostics, drug screening, crystallization/structural studies) biologics. The network will promote the emergence of new technologies, including synthetic biology, genomics and systems biology, into the community for more rapid, flexible, predictable and cost-efficient production of biologics. Areas already highlighted where the proposed network will have considerable impact include predictive bottom-up modelling of processes, new and high-throughput analytics and robotics, use of genomics, systems biology and synthetic biology in relation to existing and re-engineered pro- and eukaryotic expression systems, design of novel biological formats, generation of novel biologics for diagnostics, translation of knowledge from bioprocessing of biopharmaceuticals to inform the manufacture of non-biopharm biologics and decreased product heterogeneity. We will use Proof of Concept funding to develop cross-disciplinary collaborations that address these, and new challenges as they emerge, providing a pipeline of data and novel research ideas that lead to more competitive and integrated research proposals to the BBSRC and elsewhere. The network will facilitate the translation of the discoveries in the basic sciences into industrial bioprocesses that will have direct economic and social impacts for the UK.
Planned Impact
The entire design of the Bioprocessing Network (BioProNET) is focused around the need to deliver an impact to the industrial use of biological processes. There have been truly amazing advances in our understanding of biological processes (cells and their molecular components), driven by basic inquisition and accompanying technological developments. As biologists have delved deeper into the detail of cellular processes, we can see that the technologies and approaches of physical, chemical and engineering sciences have the potential to enable step-changes in our understanding of biology. The move towards inter-disciplinarity has provided fresh insights into disease, its treatment and the molecular components that make life possible. Along with understanding at molecular level, the way in which components interact, and the prediction of action and consequence (systems biology), is moving the boundaries of how we, as a society, can use the knowledge of biology and the components of cells to make a difference to the health and wealth of the nation. With increased knowledge, and technologies of genomics and synthetic biology, we can harness biologics (molecules or cells with desired purpose and function) for many purposes, ranging from disease diagnosis or treatment to environmental remediation to food production.
Who will Benefit?
Whereas the above description highlights the intellectual challenge of scientific discovery, the development of research findings to societal benefits requires production at commercial scale (bioprocessing). The UK industrial sector has been very effective in commercialisation and development of basic findings to application and outcome. We are entering a new stage in bioprocessing and commercial use of biologics. Many of the "easy" biologic products have been developed and we are moving to those that are more difficult to produce, harvest and store. A successful industrial sector will prosper alongside an engaged multi-disciplinary academic community in which the technology development and blue-skies research of academia will enable and accelerate industrial production. BioProNET will develop the academic communities involved in research into production of varied biological products and bring these groups together to share best practice with the industrial sector. BioProNET will facilitate identification of strategically-important novel research directions, defined by the priorities of industry, and enable formation of academic and academic-industry research collaborations, by supporting research grant applications. This application is part of the wider BBSRC Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy call. As such, the remit is to generate a wide benefit to academic and industrial practitioners in the relevant area (bioprocessing). The importance of BioProNET can be judged from the number of industrial support letters from a wide range of large and small companies and the large number of academic, and industrialists who have signed up as members. In addition, the communication routes that we will take upon initiation of the network will attract further members from other disciplines.
How will they benefit?
By aiding companies, the activities of BioProNET will have wide economic and societal benefits, for example by enabling more efficient (and ultimately cheaper) production of therapeutic biologics (biopharmaceuticals) to treat otherwise intractable diseases. In addition, the engagement between academics and industry in the network will allow knowledge exchange and training and will enable recruitment of staff to industry. The BioProNET sees a major role to act as a representative forum to act as an advisory body to other bodies, to aid funding bodies to promote the importance of industrially-themed research and to share with the public the manner in which advances in the use of biological processes (funded by the UK research bodies) has direct relevance (and worth) to the wider public
Who will Benefit?
Whereas the above description highlights the intellectual challenge of scientific discovery, the development of research findings to societal benefits requires production at commercial scale (bioprocessing). The UK industrial sector has been very effective in commercialisation and development of basic findings to application and outcome. We are entering a new stage in bioprocessing and commercial use of biologics. Many of the "easy" biologic products have been developed and we are moving to those that are more difficult to produce, harvest and store. A successful industrial sector will prosper alongside an engaged multi-disciplinary academic community in which the technology development and blue-skies research of academia will enable and accelerate industrial production. BioProNET will develop the academic communities involved in research into production of varied biological products and bring these groups together to share best practice with the industrial sector. BioProNET will facilitate identification of strategically-important novel research directions, defined by the priorities of industry, and enable formation of academic and academic-industry research collaborations, by supporting research grant applications. This application is part of the wider BBSRC Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy call. As such, the remit is to generate a wide benefit to academic and industrial practitioners in the relevant area (bioprocessing). The importance of BioProNET can be judged from the number of industrial support letters from a wide range of large and small companies and the large number of academic, and industrialists who have signed up as members. In addition, the communication routes that we will take upon initiation of the network will attract further members from other disciplines.
How will they benefit?
By aiding companies, the activities of BioProNET will have wide economic and societal benefits, for example by enabling more efficient (and ultimately cheaper) production of therapeutic biologics (biopharmaceuticals) to treat otherwise intractable diseases. In addition, the engagement between academics and industry in the network will allow knowledge exchange and training and will enable recruitment of staff to industry. The BioProNET sees a major role to act as a representative forum to act as an advisory body to other bodies, to aid funding bodies to promote the importance of industrially-themed research and to share with the public the manner in which advances in the use of biological processes (funded by the UK research bodies) has direct relevance (and worth) to the wider public
Organisations
- University of Kent (Lead Research Organisation)
- Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) (Collaboration)
- Covance Clinical and Periapproval Services Limited (Collaboration)
- LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Jeol UK Ltd (Collaboration)
- University of York (Collaboration)
- OXFORD NANOPORE TECHNOLOGIES (Collaboration)
- University of Warwick (Collaboration)
- Pall Life Sciences (Collaboration)
- Mologic (Collaboration)
- DURHAM UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- Bath ASU (Collaboration)
- University of Bath (Collaboration)
- MRC-Technology (Collaboration)
- Johns Hopkins University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM (Collaboration)
- Lonza Group (Collaboration)
- Johnson Matthey (United Kingdom) (Collaboration)
- Glythera Ltd (Collaboration)
- Lancaster University (Collaboration)
- PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND (Collaboration)
- MicroSynbiotiX (Collaboration)
- UCB Pharma (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
- Austrian Centre for Applied Biotechnology (Collaboration)
- SWANSEA UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- Accelyo Ltd (Collaboration)
- Novo Nordisk (Collaboration)
- Protein Technologies Ltd (Collaboration)
- Fujifilm (Japan) (Collaboration)
- Bio-Shape Ltd (Collaboration)
- AstraZeneca (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN (Collaboration)
- Cobra Biologics (Collaboration)
- PLYMOUTH MARINE LABORATORY (Collaboration)
- TotalLab Ltd (Collaboration)
- Actavis (Collaboration)
- Sanofi (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS (Collaboration)
- Biopro Control Tech Limited (Collaboration)
- INNOVATE UK (Collaboration)
- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (Collaboration)
- Protein Ark (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM (Collaboration)
- Crystec Pharma (Collaboration)
- Croda Europe Ltd (Collaboration)
- Recipharm (Collaboration)
- Hyaltech (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) (Collaboration)
- BioServe (Collaboration)
- University of Oxford (Collaboration)
- Recyclatech Group Ltd (Collaboration)
- Algaecytes Limited (Collaboration)
- Teesside University (Collaboration)
- SAL Scientific (Collaboration)
- Varicon Aqua Solutions Ltd (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF KENT (Collaboration)
- Arecor (Collaboration)
Publications
Aw R
(2019)
Biosensor-assisted engineering of a high-yield Pichia pastoris cell-free protein synthesis platform.
in Biotechnology and bioengineering
Bown HK
(2018)
In vitro model for predicting bioavailability of subcutaneously injected monoclonal antibodies.
in Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society
Carballo-Amador MA
(2019)
Surface patches on recombinant erythropoietin predict protein solubility: engineering proteins to minimise aggregation.
in BMC biotechnology
Didaskalou C
(2018)
Membrane-Grafted Asymmetric Organocatalyst for an Integrated Synthesis-Separation Platform
in ACS Catalysis
Didaskalou C
(2017)
Valorisation of agricultural waste with an adsorption/nanofiltration hybrid process: from materials to sustainable process design
in Green Chemistry
Fei F
(2019)
Tailoring the Performance of Organic Solvent Nanofiltration Membranes with Biophenol Coatings.
in ACS applied polymer materials
Fei F
(2018)
Robust Covalently Cross-linked Polybenzimidazole/Graphene Oxide Membranes for High-Flux Organic Solvent Nanofiltration.
in ACS applied materials & interfaces
Gangadharan N
(2021)
Data intelligence for process performance prediction in biologics manufacturing
in Computers & Chemical Engineering
Gangadharan N
(2023)
Online data condensation for digitalised biopharmaceutical processes
| Title | BioProNET artwork created by Keith Robinson |
| Description | 4 pieces of artwork depicting the activities of the BioProNET NIBB, the network and manufacturing of medicines. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | Has created many discussions when displayed around the country. Also shown at BBSRC head office. |
| URL | http://www.keithrobinsonpainting.com/BioProNET |
| Description | We have developed a network of scientists who share an interest in bioprocessing, and organized events and offered funding to enable these scientists to consider and address key challenges in the field. The network has enabled new collaborations to be formed leading to procurement of new funding streams. We have initiated an internationalisation angle of the network that is allowing us to address more global challenges. The network has also undertaken extensive outreach work to disseminate the importance of our work and what the network, and members of the network do, and why this is important. The network is also impacting upon policy and future direction of industrial biotechnology, leading such research and innovation in the UK and globally. The impact is ultimately the enhanced production of important biomedicine, the availability of these to a wider audience at reduced cost, development of job opportunities and development of new industrial processes. Although this award is now completed, the success of the network has meant that a number of the companies involved have agreed to pay towards a follow-on network funded through industrial contributions and run from Manchester. A follow on, industrially funded BioProNET2 network is now funded and running. Although events have been limited in the last year due to COVD-19, a virtual scientific meeting over two days was very successful and the first event of the new network. |
| Exploitation Route | Meetings held by the network and funding distributed from the network will enable academic and industrial scientists to work together more effectively and address common goals. The findings will be translated into industrial processes to enhance production processes. |
| Sectors | Healthcare Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| URL | http://biopronetuk.org/ |
| Description | The output of BioProNET network has facilitated, funded and/or contributed to several academic-industry events: 1. Bioprocessing scoping workshop (March 2014) 2. Sandpit meeting (June 2014; xx attendees) 3. Annual scientific meeting (October 2014; 150+ attendees) 4. Spectroscopy workshop (July 2014) 5. Protein glycosylation workshop (funding agreed, date TBC) 6. Knowledge transfer network formulation meeting (July 2014) In 2015 there was a large number of workshops around specific areas of interest to members of the community. Annual meeting held in Manchester in October 2015 (200 attendees) A meeting for early career researchers in September 2015 (Nottingham) to mentor and help early stage researchers with career options Members of the network have spoken at many events, undertaken outreach in the area across the UK, spoken with policy planners and led to new academic-industrial partnerships gaining significant funding. A workshop in Canterbury in March 2016 focussed upon internationalisation across the EU of bioprocessing research. The Network has continued to have annual meetings, even through out the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2022 returned to in-person meetings for the first time since 2019. This meeting was held at the GSK Stevenage site and stimulated new interactions, members of the network and collaborations. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Education,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Societal Economic |
| Description | BIO)PHARMA IRELAND WHITE PAPER |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
| Description | IB Leadership Forum |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Algal vaccines for Aquaculture |
| Amount | £160,399 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/S004327/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2019 |
| End | 06/2020 |
| Description | BBSRC STARS PROGRAMME |
| Amount | £99,700 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/P004296/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2016 |
| End | 09/2019 |
| Description | Enabling rapid liquid and freeze-dried formulation design for the manufacture and delivery of novel biopharmaceuticals |
| Amount | £1,519,555 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/N025105/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2016 |
| End | 06/2021 |
| Description | cultivation of Haematococcus pluvialis as a biofilm |
| Amount | £70,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 132192 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2016 |
| End | 11/2017 |
| Description | synthetic gene circuits to measure and mitigate translational stress during heterologous protein expression |
| Amount | £681,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/N017161/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2016 |
| End | 11/2019 |
| Title | CCDC 1576088: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination |
| Description | Related Article: Hai Anh Le Phuong, Levente Cseri, George F. S. Whitehead, Arthur Garforth, Peter Budd, Gyorgy Szekely|2017|RSC Advances|7|53278|doi:10.1039/C7RA11827A |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc1px1k6&sid=DataCite |
| Title | CCDC 1576089: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination |
| Description | Related Article: Hai Anh Le Phuong, Levente Cseri, George F. S. Whitehead, Arthur Garforth, Peter Budd, Gyorgy Szekely|2017|RSC Advances|7|53278|doi:10.1039/C7RA11827A |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc1px1l7&sid=DataCite |
| Title | CCDC 1576090: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination |
| Description | Related Article: Hai Anh Le Phuong, Levente Cseri, George F. S. Whitehead, Arthur Garforth, Peter Budd, Gyorgy Szekely|2017|RSC Advances|7|53278|doi:10.1039/C7RA11827A |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc1px1m8&sid=DataCite |
| Title | CCDC 1582071: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination |
| Description | Related Article: Hai Anh Le Phuong, Levente Cseri, George F. S. Whitehead, Arthur Garforth, Peter Budd, Gyorgy Szekely|2017|RSC Advances|7|53278|doi:10.1039/C7RA11827A |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | http://www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure_request?id=doi:10.5517/ccdc.csd.cc1q38kn&sid=DataCite |
| Title | ProteinSol |
| Description | Protein-Sol is a predictive protein solubility calculator built by the Warwicker group at the University of Manchester, with major contributions from Max Hebditch, Alejandro Carballo and Spyros Charonis. Currently, the software will take a single amino acid sequence and return the result of a set of solubility prediction calculations, compared to a solubility database. These results are available for download in text form and are interpreted in graphs. See here for an example. To run multiple sequences, the predictive algorithm is available for download. Please use the following paper for citing Protein-Sol Max Hebditch, M. Alejandro Carballo-Amador, Spyros Charonis, Robin Curtis, Jim Warwicker; Protein-Sol: A web tool for predicting protein solubility from sequence. Bioinformatics 2017 Building on work published in Chan P, Curtis R, Warwicker J (2013) Sci Rep 3:3333. Warwicker J, Charonis S, Curtis R (2014) Mol Pharm 11:294 The software is still under development and further improvements, as well as structural calculations, are forthcoming. Please contact us at protein-sol@manchester.ac.uk if you have any questions, comments or further interest in using the tool. |
| Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The protein-sol web server has run around 5000 jobs run by almost 2000 users; has been used in two sucessful applications for further funding |
| URL | https://protein-sol.manchester.ac.uk/ |
| Description | A bio-process to optimize yields and characterize and test unique exopolysaccharides from two microalgal strains |
| Organisation | Algaecytes Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | The outcomes of this successful collaborative project have been used to provide preliminary data on a grant application to BBSRC-IBCarb NiBB and a potential application to Innovate UK (Health and Life Science competition 2016). In addition these data will form part of a patent application associated with the biological activity of secondary metabolites isolated from the AlgaeCytes Ltd microalgal strain xxxxx. Following the submission of the patent application, results of this project are expected to be published in a high impact factor journal such as the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Green Chemistry |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | A bio-process to optimize yields and characterize and test unique exopolysaccharides from two microalgal strains |
| Organisation | Swansea University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | The outcomes of this successful collaborative project have been used to provide preliminary data on a grant application to BBSRC-IBCarb NiBB and a potential application to Innovate UK (Health and Life Science competition 2016). In addition these data will form part of a patent application associated with the biological activity of secondary metabolites isolated from the AlgaeCytes Ltd microalgal strain xxxxx. Following the submission of the patent application, results of this project are expected to be published in a high impact factor journal such as the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Green Chemistry |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | A collaboration to engineer a novel protein nanopore for single molecule DNA sequencing applications |
| Organisation | Oxford Nanopore Technologies |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | The main outcome was the design and optimisation of a 'pipeline' for the production and characterisation of archaeal homohexameric xxx proteins. We incorporated a number of features into this pipeline that would permit the screening of larger numbers of archaeal xxxx awarded BioProNET PoC funding Awarded iCASE studentship |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | A collaboration to engineer a novel protein nanopore for single molecule DNA sequencing applications |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | The main outcome was the design and optimisation of a 'pipeline' for the production and characterisation of archaeal homohexameric xxx proteins. We incorporated a number of features into this pipeline that would permit the screening of larger numbers of archaeal xxxx awarded BioProNET PoC funding Awarded iCASE studentship |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | A machine learning poly-omics classifier to improve protein production in CHO cells |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | BioProNET funded the project |
| Collaborator Contribution | Teesside and CPI carried out the work |
| Impact | Zampieri, G.; Coggins, M.; Valle, G.; Angione, C. A poly-omics machine-learning method to predict metabolite production in CHO cells . In Proceedings of the The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Metabolomics, 20-27 November 2017; Sciforum Electronic Conference Series, Vol. 2, 2017 ; doi:10.3390/iecm-2-04993 |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | A machine learning poly-omics classifier to improve protein production in CHO cells |
| Organisation | Teesside University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | BioProNET funded the project |
| Collaborator Contribution | Teesside and CPI carried out the work |
| Impact | Zampieri, G.; Coggins, M.; Valle, G.; Angione, C. A poly-omics machine-learning method to predict metabolite production in CHO cells . In Proceedings of the The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Metabolomics, 20-27 November 2017; Sciforum Electronic Conference Series, Vol. 2, 2017 ; doi:10.3390/iecm-2-04993 |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | A pilot study to improve the expression of a Clostridium difficile toxin-based fragment in E.coli |
| Organisation | Public Health England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | A process has been developed that vastly improves the accumulation of biomass (TxB4 antigen expressing e.coli) within the fermentation. This approx. 50 fold increase in biomeass is an effective first step in process optimisation for protein production |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | A pilot study to improve the expression of a Clostridium difficile toxin-based fragment in E.coli |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | A process has been developed that vastly improves the accumulation of biomass (TxB4 antigen expressing e.coli) within the fermentation. This approx. 50 fold increase in biomeass is an effective first step in process optimisation for protein production |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Addressing challenges in pre-processing and mining bioprocess development data in biocatalyst manufacturing by machine learning |
| Organisation | Johnson Matthey |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | BioProNET funded the collaboration |
| Collaborator Contribution | Cambridge and JM undertook the work |
| Impact | PhD studentship; contribution of industrial partner to Masters course at Cambridge |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Addressing challenges in pre-processing and mining bioprocess development data in biocatalyst manufacturing by machine learning |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | BioProNET funded the collaboration |
| Collaborator Contribution | Cambridge and JM undertook the work |
| Impact | PhD studentship; contribution of industrial partner to Masters course at Cambridge |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Analysis of host cell protein impurities using in silico approaches |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | There are two main outcomes from this project. One. A database of HCPs for IgG1 antibodies - this will be made publicly available, a manuscript is in preparation that will include all of this data. The database contains 145 HCPs with associated data (including elution conditions, identification methods, structural data and links to external resources (e.g. UniProt)). This data will be of great interest to those working on optimisation of the purification processes of biologics, and regulatory bodies and industrialists, to advise and guide the development of chromatographic resins, equipment, detection assays and guidelines relating to the chromatographic process and up/down stream stages thereof.Two. Development of an approach to use docking-docking to perform in silico analysis of the interactions between a monoclonal antibody and HCPs to identify likely binding sites between the two proteins. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Analysis of host cell protein impurities using in silico approaches |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | There are two main outcomes from this project. One. A database of HCPs for IgG1 antibodies - this will be made publicly available, a manuscript is in preparation that will include all of this data. The database contains 145 HCPs with associated data (including elution conditions, identification methods, structural data and links to external resources (e.g. UniProt)). This data will be of great interest to those working on optimisation of the purification processes of biologics, and regulatory bodies and industrialists, to advise and guide the development of chromatographic resins, equipment, detection assays and guidelines relating to the chromatographic process and up/down stream stages thereof.Two. Development of an approach to use docking-docking to perform in silico analysis of the interactions between a monoclonal antibody and HCPs to identify likely binding sites between the two proteins. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Assessing the production of human cysteine knot hormones in plant cell cultures |
| Organisation | Mologic |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | partners carried out the research |
| Impact | As a result of this project, we have initiated a new collaboration with Mologic's Centre for Advanced Rapid Diagnostics to improve the expression of other recombinant proteins known to be challenging in other expression systems. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Assessing the production of human cysteine knot hormones in plant cell cultures |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | partners carried out the research |
| Impact | As a result of this project, we have initiated a new collaboration with Mologic's Centre for Advanced Rapid Diagnostics to improve the expression of other recombinant proteins known to be challenging in other expression systems. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Actavis |
| Department | Actavis Centre of Excellence for Biologics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Department | MedImmune |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Austrian Centre for Applied Biotechnology |
| Country | Austria |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Durham University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Fujifilm |
| Department | Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Johns Hopkins University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Knowledge Transfer Network |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Loughborough University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Mologic |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Pall Life Sciences |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Recipharm |
| Department | Recipharm Cobra Biologics |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | Sanofi |
| Department | Aventis |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | UCB Pharma |
| Department | UCB Celltech |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University College Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University of Aberdeen |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University of Birmingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University of Nottingham |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioprocessing network (BioProNET) |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have set up the bioprocessing network so that it now has 250 members from industry, academia and special interest groups, with the aim of fostering better academia-interactions. We have organized and hosted a sandpit meeting and a scientific meeting (that had around 150 attendees), set up a website and other social media related to the network and have begun to offer dedicated funding for collaborations between members of the network. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partners have contributed to network events - such as conferences - by hosting workshops and presenting scientific talks. Members of the network's management board have contributed to the strategy of the network and have reviewed funding applications |
| Impact | We have held a sandpit meeting, a scientific meeting and have awarded funding for collaborative projects. The collaboration is multidisciplinary in that it brings together people from different backgrounds such as industry, academia and strategic organizations. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Bioreactor design space identification with product quality constraint |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Department | MedImmune |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | In this project we used first-principles modelling and a novel computational method to develop new cell culture strategies for increasing antibody galactosylation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Bioreactor design space identification with product quality constraint |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | In this project we used first-principles modelling and a novel computational method to develop new cell culture strategies for increasing antibody galactosylation. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | CHO cell expression systems |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This workshop financed by BioProNET brought together key industrialist and academics interested in developing and using Chinese hamster ovary expression systems for producing recombinant proteins. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Hosted by Manchester and partially funded. |
| Impact | Development of a white paper on future challenges and themes for research in the area. Development of grant proposals and networks. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Cell Free Synthesis Workshop |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This workshop financed by BioProNET brought together key industrialist and academics interested in developing and using cell free expression systems. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Imperial hosted and ran the workshop. |
| Impact | New collaborations arising. Grant applications developed. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Design consultation and testing of a membrane photobiorector suitable for advanced biologic production from micro algae |
| Organisation | Plymouth Marine Laboratory |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Varicon Aqua designed and tested a novel solid state photobioreactor in partnership with PML. Growth rates, productivity and algal concentration was measured growing a range of green algal species. Inoculation tests were also carried out to assess the best starting conditions. We have generated a wealth of baseline data for two very different microalgae species and assessed the potential for the system to enter into the competitive PBRs for high value products market. The target for future applications of this system is high-value metabolites production. The prototype system will continue to be used at PML for academic research and to provide baseline data to aid VAS with sales of the product. It is envisaged that ultimately this data will be published. The algal media recipes developed and tested during this work are already generating sales for VAS. The fledgling BioProNet collaboration resulted in a further (successful) application to Innovate UK |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Design consultation and testing of a membrane photobiorector suitable for advanced biologic production from micro algae |
| Organisation | Varicon Aqua Solutions Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Varicon Aqua designed and tested a novel solid state photobioreactor in partnership with PML. Growth rates, productivity and algal concentration was measured growing a range of green algal species. Inoculation tests were also carried out to assess the best starting conditions. We have generated a wealth of baseline data for two very different microalgae species and assessed the potential for the system to enter into the competitive PBRs for high value products market. The target for future applications of this system is high-value metabolites production. The prototype system will continue to be used at PML for academic research and to provide baseline data to aid VAS with sales of the product. It is envisaged that ultimately this data will be published. The algal media recipes developed and tested during this work are already generating sales for VAS. The fledgling BioProNet collaboration resulted in a further (successful) application to Innovate UK |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Developing a novel fluorescence-based biopharmaceutical quality control technology |
| Organisation | Bath ASU |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | 1. The work has directly led to the filing of a patent (UK Patent Application No. 1604640.1). 2. We have a manuscript in review at Biochemistry with Bath ASU as co-authors that presents our early findings. 3. Presentation of the technology at the 2nd International Antibody Validation Meeting as an invited speaker, building the network of industrial interactions and potential customers for the technology 4. Based on the validating data from the BiV we have also received EPSRC funding as part of seed-corn funding for a global challenge research fund (GCRF) project to assess if our approach can be used in conjunction with protein stabilization technologies to deliver safe drugs to developing countries. 5. Using the BiV data we have secured an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) award to develop the commercial impact of our technology. This funds a PDRA to liaise with companies and demonstrate the technology to them using relevant samples. The concept is to show how the approach could be used and to drive a potential customer base. 6. We are presently in commercial negotiations with an instrument manufacturer to license our IP for incorporation into their current technology standard. 7. We have produced a short film describing the technology and for use in instigating commercial interactions: https://youtu.be/kHdZBy5xJ2A applied for BioProNET PoC |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Developing a novel fluorescence-based biopharmaceutical quality control technology |
| Organisation | University of Bath |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | 1. The work has directly led to the filing of a patent (UK Patent Application No. 1604640.1). 2. We have a manuscript in review at Biochemistry with Bath ASU as co-authors that presents our early findings. 3. Presentation of the technology at the 2nd International Antibody Validation Meeting as an invited speaker, building the network of industrial interactions and potential customers for the technology 4. Based on the validating data from the BiV we have also received EPSRC funding as part of seed-corn funding for a global challenge research fund (GCRF) project to assess if our approach can be used in conjunction with protein stabilization technologies to deliver safe drugs to developing countries. 5. Using the BiV data we have secured an EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) award to develop the commercial impact of our technology. This funds a PDRA to liaise with companies and demonstrate the technology to them using relevant samples. The concept is to show how the approach could be used and to drive a potential customer base. 6. We are presently in commercial negotiations with an instrument manufacturer to license our IP for incorporation into their current technology standard. 7. We have produced a short film describing the technology and for use in instigating commercial interactions: https://youtu.be/kHdZBy5xJ2A applied for BioProNET PoC |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Development of a crossflow filtration dynamic flux control system to reduce cell harvest time |
| Organisation | Biopro Control Tech Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | We found that our developed dynamic control strategy is able to prevent the fouling even at a relatively high flux. This helped to reduce operating time significantly (60% reduction in USD operation). The data have shown that this novel control method has the potential to achieve significant process efficiency. We also found the model-based feed forward control plays a more important role than the TMP feedback control because the TMP set points were small but were sensitive to noise. The collaborating company developed software and hardware to implement the control method. UCL did all the wet laboratory experiments. Our collaboration is really beneficial because we would not be able to carry out such a project without the collaborating company. This work has provided us considerable preliminary data for a new bid for further development of the dynamic control system. This new collaboration has expanded our industrial partner portfolio. Working with SME is very different from large company and the experience is very valuable. I enjoyed the project as it now allows us to understand the specific needs in membrane separation bioprocess control. We also find Arduino is a good prototype tool for control system development. We tested a range of hardware and the performance of Arduino is robust. We would like to collaborate further to develop more sophistic software for commercial application. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Development of a crossflow filtration dynamic flux control system to reduce cell harvest time |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | We found that our developed dynamic control strategy is able to prevent the fouling even at a relatively high flux. This helped to reduce operating time significantly (60% reduction in USD operation). The data have shown that this novel control method has the potential to achieve significant process efficiency. We also found the model-based feed forward control plays a more important role than the TMP feedback control because the TMP set points were small but were sensitive to noise. The collaborating company developed software and hardware to implement the control method. UCL did all the wet laboratory experiments. Our collaboration is really beneficial because we would not be able to carry out such a project without the collaborating company. This work has provided us considerable preliminary data for a new bid for further development of the dynamic control system. This new collaboration has expanded our industrial partner portfolio. Working with SME is very different from large company and the experience is very valuable. I enjoyed the project as it now allows us to understand the specific needs in membrane separation bioprocess control. We also find Arduino is a good prototype tool for control system development. We tested a range of hardware and the performance of Arduino is robust. We would like to collaborate further to develop more sophistic software for commercial application. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Engineering secretory capacity in S. cerevisiae strains to improve recombinant protein production yield |
| Organisation | Novo Nordisk |
| Country | Denmark |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out work |
| Impact | scientific research advancement |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Engineering secretory capacity in S. cerevisiae strains to improve recombinant protein production yield |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out work |
| Impact | scientific research advancement |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Enhancing cell growth to allow selection of biopharmaceutical-producer cell lines with favourable properties |
| Organisation | SAL Scientific |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Demonstration that supplementation of media during single-cell cloning allowed isolation of cell lines expressing 'difficult' recombinant proteins in higher numbers and with apparently higher productivity. Generation of cell lines.Data will be incorporated into SAL's product literature (marketing presentation and product brochure). Cell lines will be utilised in academic partner's lab. ·Further collaboration to address whether supplements increase protein folding efficiency and / or resistance to perturbation of endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis (i.e. ER stress). Explore opportunities for funding future collaboration via application for iCASE PhD studentship Applied for BioProNET PoC |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Enhancing cell growth to allow selection of biopharmaceutical-producer cell lines with favourable properties |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Demonstration that supplementation of media during single-cell cloning allowed isolation of cell lines expressing 'difficult' recombinant proteins in higher numbers and with apparently higher productivity. Generation of cell lines.Data will be incorporated into SAL's product literature (marketing presentation and product brochure). Cell lines will be utilised in academic partner's lab. ·Further collaboration to address whether supplements increase protein folding efficiency and / or resistance to perturbation of endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis (i.e. ER stress). Explore opportunities for funding future collaboration via application for iCASE PhD studentship Applied for BioProNET PoC |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Enhancing secretory pathway function to allow selection of host cell clones |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the work |
| Impact | date used for iCASE studentship award |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Establishing a prototype process for manufacturing non-therapeutic biologics expressed in plants for the R&D market |
| Organisation | Protein Technologies Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | partners carried out the research |
| Impact | recruitment of an MSc research student to a 7-month research project BBSRC Innovation Fellowship |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Establishing a prototype process for manufacturing non-therapeutic biologics expressed in plants for the R&D market |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | partners carried out the research |
| Impact | recruitment of an MSc research student to a 7-month research project BBSRC Innovation Fellowship |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Evaluating enhancement of Secretion for Recombinant Proteins in CHO cells via overexpression of 7SL RNA |
| Organisation | Cobra Biologics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborator on BIV |
| Impact | preliminary data suggests that overexpression of 7SL RNA can increase secretion of recombinant proteins under some conditions, that is, transient trasfection only. further work is needed to clarify why no increase is seen with stable stransfections.Collaborators plan to carry out further work to identify what factors determine if antibody secretion increases in the presence of 7SL RNA, potentially as part of the PI's IB catalyst grant |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Evaluating enhancement of Secretion for Recombinant Proteins in CHO cells via overexpression of 7SL RNA |
| Organisation | University of York |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborator on BIV |
| Impact | preliminary data suggests that overexpression of 7SL RNA can increase secretion of recombinant proteins under some conditions, that is, transient trasfection only. further work is needed to clarify why no increase is seen with stable stransfections.Collaborators plan to carry out further work to identify what factors determine if antibody secretion increases in the presence of 7SL RNA, potentially as part of the PI's IB catalyst grant |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Evaluating the use of Raman Spectroscopy to determine topological isoforms of plasmid DNA |
| Organisation | Cobra Biologics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Impact | This project has enabled a new collaboration between Lancaster University and Cobra Biologics. It has provided me with access to industrially relevant samples to investigate the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a process analytical technique for the determination of topological isoforms of plasmid DNA, as well as benchmarking techniques. The success of these initial experiments will enable us to continue with our collaboration and further investigations of the potential of Raman spectroscopy in this area of research. This work has established a new relationship between Cobra Biologics and Dr Lorna Ashton at the University of Lancaster. The project has involved the exchange of materials and information between partners and provides some encouraging preliminary data that will support continuation of the project in a collaborative manner |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Evaluating the use of Raman Spectroscopy to determine topological isoforms of plasmid DNA |
| Organisation | Lancaster University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Impact | This project has enabled a new collaboration between Lancaster University and Cobra Biologics. It has provided me with access to industrially relevant samples to investigate the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a process analytical technique for the determination of topological isoforms of plasmid DNA, as well as benchmarking techniques. The success of these initial experiments will enable us to continue with our collaboration and further investigations of the potential of Raman spectroscopy in this area of research. This work has established a new relationship between Cobra Biologics and Dr Lorna Ashton at the University of Lancaster. The project has involved the exchange of materials and information between partners and provides some encouraging preliminary data that will support continuation of the project in a collaborative manner |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Examining the relationship between charge and zeta potential in proteins using mass spectrometry |
| Organisation | Bio-Shape Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | We have found that we can measure the zeta potential of proteins under the conditions that are typically used for native mass spectrometry experiments. Barran currently has a MSc. student working on this, but from 2017 a PhD. student will take this work forward. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Examining the relationship between charge and zeta potential in proteins using mass spectrometry |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | We have found that we can measure the zeta potential of proteins under the conditions that are typically used for native mass spectrometry experiments. Barran currently has a MSc. student working on this, but from 2017 a PhD. student will take this work forward. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Exploiting advanced electron microscopy to optimise protein and biologic expression platforms |
| Organisation | Jeol UK Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Biochemical data showed that overexpressed hGH in E. coli was successfully exported to the periplasm by the Tat machinery. Further immuno EM analysis showed that a proportion of the insoluble hGH actually forms inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm, consequently reducing the yield of hGH exported into the periplasmic space/growth media. The hGH that does localise to the cytoplasmic membrane is randomly distributed throughout membrane, and does not appear to effect membrane structure. We are currently collaborating with colleagues at UCL to quantify how much hGH/protein can be made via this system under fermentation. We also expressed an uncleavable mutant of hGH, which cannot be processed at the cytoplasmic membrane. ImmunoEM showed that this uncleavable hGH is randomly distributed in the membrane, and like the WT hGH, does not affect membrane structure. Therefore, in principle, we have a way ofdisplaying a protein on the periplasmic face of the E. coli inner membrane. The collaboration with JEOL UK provided high-level training for Sarah Smith on the EM in difficult echniques of imaging resin sections, and electron tomography. Andrew Yarwood (ApplicationsSpecialist, JEOL UK), was also able to provide valuable advice regarding the development of the immunogold labelling procedure, which was vital to unambiguously identifying hGH in situ. Finally,contact with JEOL UK throughout this project has established a working relationship betweenUniversity of Warwick and JEOL UK for future research projects. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Exploiting advanced electron microscopy to optimise protein and biologic expression platforms |
| Organisation | University of Warwick |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Biochemical data showed that overexpressed hGH in E. coli was successfully exported to the periplasm by the Tat machinery. Further immuno EM analysis showed that a proportion of the insoluble hGH actually forms inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm, consequently reducing the yield of hGH exported into the periplasmic space/growth media. The hGH that does localise to the cytoplasmic membrane is randomly distributed throughout membrane, and does not appear to effect membrane structure. We are currently collaborating with colleagues at UCL to quantify how much hGH/protein can be made via this system under fermentation. We also expressed an uncleavable mutant of hGH, which cannot be processed at the cytoplasmic membrane. ImmunoEM showed that this uncleavable hGH is randomly distributed in the membrane, and like the WT hGH, does not affect membrane structure. Therefore, in principle, we have a way ofdisplaying a protein on the periplasmic face of the E. coli inner membrane. The collaboration with JEOL UK provided high-level training for Sarah Smith on the EM in difficult echniques of imaging resin sections, and electron tomography. Andrew Yarwood (ApplicationsSpecialist, JEOL UK), was also able to provide valuable advice regarding the development of the immunogold labelling procedure, which was vital to unambiguously identifying hGH in situ. Finally,contact with JEOL UK throughout this project has established a working relationship betweenUniversity of Warwick and JEOL UK for future research projects. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Exploring the feasibility of nonlinear acoustic detection technique for online bioprocess monitoring |
| Organisation | Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | A major outcome of this work was the demonstration of the feasibility of direct detection of DNA aggregates using the non-linear acoustic response of quartz crystal resonator. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Exploring the feasibility of nonlinear acoustic detection technique for online bioprocess monitoring |
| Organisation | Loughborough University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | A major outcome of this work was the demonstration of the feasibility of direct detection of DNA aggregates using the non-linear acoustic response of quartz crystal resonator. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Fermentation optimisation of biotherapeutic production by E. coli 'TatExpress' strains |
| Organisation | UCB Pharma |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | EU funding, paper |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Fermentation optimisation of biotherapeutic production by E. coli 'TatExpress' strains |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | EU funding, paper |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Gene expression accuracy as a parameter in bioprocessing applications |
| Organisation | Cobra Biologics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | In summary, we have demonstrated that protein synthesis errors give rise to numerous species that generate low-level impurities in recombinant protein samples. We further demonstrated that these low level impurities can measurably alter recombinant protein properties. These findings are highly relevant to industrial bioprocesses. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Gene expression accuracy as a parameter in bioprocessing applications |
| Organisation | MRC-Technology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | In summary, we have demonstrated that protein synthesis errors give rise to numerous species that generate low-level impurities in recombinant protein samples. We further demonstrated that these low level impurities can measurably alter recombinant protein properties. These findings are highly relevant to industrial bioprocesses. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Gene expression accuracy as a parameter in bioprocessing applications |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | In summary, we have demonstrated that protein synthesis errors give rise to numerous species that generate low-level impurities in recombinant protein samples. We further demonstrated that these low level impurities can measurably alter recombinant protein properties. These findings are highly relevant to industrial bioprocesses. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Industry biotechnology for the production of hyaluronic acid from Streptococcus equi |
| Organisation | Hyaltech |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | Data from the Hyaltech fermentation indicate that as HA production decreased the biomass increased. This suggests N-acetylglucosamine was being shunted towards peptidoglycan synthesis rather than HA. This project also identified hyaluronidase encoding genes in the strain used by Hyaltech. Analysis of the predicted proteins encoded by the two sequenced genes indicates that one of these is likely to be secreted. Secretion of a hyaluronidase during continuous cultivation of S. equi will lead to lower yields HA. Investigators applied for a PoC grant from BioProNET (not funded; largely because it was thought that the company might be better placed to fund the study) |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Industry biotechnology for the production of hyaluronic acid from Streptococcus equi |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | Data from the Hyaltech fermentation indicate that as HA production decreased the biomass increased. This suggests N-acetylglucosamine was being shunted towards peptidoglycan synthesis rather than HA. This project also identified hyaluronidase encoding genes in the strain used by Hyaltech. Analysis of the predicted proteins encoded by the two sequenced genes indicates that one of these is likely to be secreted. Secretion of a hyaluronidase during continuous cultivation of S. equi will lead to lower yields HA. Investigators applied for a PoC grant from BioProNET (not funded; largely because it was thought that the company might be better placed to fund the study) |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Initial development of novel product concepts with unique pharmacokinetic characteristics |
| Organisation | Arecor |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | BIV funding University of Bath and Arecor |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB business interaction voucher |
| Impact | Clear differences in the behaviour of different insulin analogues were observed in the system. It was very interesting to observe that a degree of precipitation occurs not only with the basal insulin (where it is expected) but also with the prandial insulin (where precipitation is not considered to be part of the delivery mode). The main differences were in the rate and intensity of the precipitation. We were unable to confirm the effect of the different formulations tested on the release profile characteristics. However, the available data are very useful not only with respect to gaining understanding of the initial interactions of insulin in the subcutaneous space following injection, but also with respect to understanding the optimal experimental protocol for studying the release characteristics using different formulations of basal insulin. Discussions between Dr. Jan Jezek (Arecor, Ltd) and Prof Randall Mrsny (Univ of Bath) have already occurred to identify and plan next steps. Modifications of the experimental protocol and testing parameters have been identified for the next series of studies. Both parties agree that identification of parameters that can improve the testing protocol will lead to valuable information for the rational design of SC injectable insulin formulations. Such information should lead to better patient outcomes for diabetic patients. Both parties agree that publication of general principles, while not divulging specific proprietary information will be possible and that this information will be available for future grant applications. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Initial development of novel product concepts with unique pharmacokinetic characteristics |
| Organisation | University of Bath |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | BIV funding University of Bath and Arecor |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB business interaction voucher |
| Impact | Clear differences in the behaviour of different insulin analogues were observed in the system. It was very interesting to observe that a degree of precipitation occurs not only with the basal insulin (where it is expected) but also with the prandial insulin (where precipitation is not considered to be part of the delivery mode). The main differences were in the rate and intensity of the precipitation. We were unable to confirm the effect of the different formulations tested on the release profile characteristics. However, the available data are very useful not only with respect to gaining understanding of the initial interactions of insulin in the subcutaneous space following injection, but also with respect to understanding the optimal experimental protocol for studying the release characteristics using different formulations of basal insulin. Discussions between Dr. Jan Jezek (Arecor, Ltd) and Prof Randall Mrsny (Univ of Bath) have already occurred to identify and plan next steps. Modifications of the experimental protocol and testing parameters have been identified for the next series of studies. Both parties agree that identification of parameters that can improve the testing protocol will lead to valuable information for the rational design of SC injectable insulin formulations. Such information should lead to better patient outcomes for diabetic patients. Both parties agree that publication of general principles, while not divulging specific proprietary information will be possible and that this information will be available for future grant applications. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Investigating the effects of hydrodynamic force on the structure and biological integrity of a viral vector gene therapy product |
| Organisation | Cobra Biologics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | ongoing |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Investigating the effects of hydrodynamic force on the structure and biological integrity of a viral vector gene therapy product |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | ongoing |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Molecular Imprinting for Sustainable Downstream Processing of Biopharmaceuticals |
| Organisation | Fujifilm |
| Department | Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | currently confidential - will be released when get OK from company |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Molecular Imprinting for Sustainable Downstream Processing of Biopharmaceuticals |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | currently confidential - will be released when get OK from company |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Mologic collaboration |
| Organisation | Mologic |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have produced recombinant SARS-CoV-2 proteins as antigens (spike protein and mutations thereof, nucleocapsid protein) that have been provided to Mologic. This involved recombinant expression and subsequent purification. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Mologic have used the reagents to help develop their rapid lateral flow diagnostics for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and in development of antigen tests. |
| Impact | Work still on-going, died development of rapid lateral flow tests for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and antigens. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Monitoring of host cell proteome expression during bioprocessing of CHO cells expressing recombinant proteins |
| Organisation | TotalLab Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | 1. The development of a new collaboration between a leading academic department in bioprocessing and HCP analysis and Totallab to work collectively for the benefit of each party. 2. Confirmation that the SpotMap software is faster and more accurate at defining the HCP profile than current approaches in the academic lab, and able to detect subtle changes in HCPs present at different times throughout culture, particularly of those that may be retained during initial downstream processing steps. 3. Identification of potentially critical HCPs that are abundant in cell culture supernatant, increase in abundance towards the end of culture or appear to be persistent/retained (at least to some extent) following initial downstream processing and purification steps. 4. Invitation of group at Kent to present at the BEBPA (Biopharmaceutical Emerging Best Practices Association) conference (Main international conference on HCPs, see http://www.bebpa.org/conferences/) on HCPs in San Francisco (May 10-12, 2017) on elements of the work undertaken during the BIV. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Monitoring of host cell proteome expression during bioprocessing of CHO cells expressing recombinant proteins |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | 1. The development of a new collaboration between a leading academic department in bioprocessing and HCP analysis and Totallab to work collectively for the benefit of each party. 2. Confirmation that the SpotMap software is faster and more accurate at defining the HCP profile than current approaches in the academic lab, and able to detect subtle changes in HCPs present at different times throughout culture, particularly of those that may be retained during initial downstream processing steps. 3. Identification of potentially critical HCPs that are abundant in cell culture supernatant, increase in abundance towards the end of culture or appear to be persistent/retained (at least to some extent) following initial downstream processing and purification steps. 4. Invitation of group at Kent to present at the BEBPA (Biopharmaceutical Emerging Best Practices Association) conference (Main international conference on HCPs, see http://www.bebpa.org/conferences/) on HCPs in San Francisco (May 10-12, 2017) on elements of the work undertaken during the BIV. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Novel bioprocessing approaches for the separation of product phases |
| Organisation | Croda Europe Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | A demonstration of the utility of the gravity separation system at pilot plant scale is the most significant scientific outcome of this work. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Novel bioprocessing approaches for the separation of product phases |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | A demonstration of the utility of the gravity separation system at pilot plant scale is the most significant scientific outcome of this work. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Optimization of influenza vaccine manufacturing through inhibition of autophagy. |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | increased scientific understanding associated with the project |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Pilot production of engineered nucleases with applications in molecular biology and diagnostic devices |
| Organisation | BioServe |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sheffield PI carried out the work , companies provide reagents, ran experiments |
| Impact | BioServUK is developing and refining the protein production process. 2) We will also develop, via a recently appointed Ph.D. student, additional nucleases produced above in relevant assays in collaboration with Atlas Genetics Ltd. 3) Prototype aliquots will be offered to KOL's in industry. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Pilot production of engineered nucleases with applications in molecular biology and diagnostic devices |
| Organisation | Protein Ark |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sheffield PI carried out the work , companies provide reagents, ran experiments |
| Impact | BioServUK is developing and refining the protein production process. 2) We will also develop, via a recently appointed Ph.D. student, additional nucleases produced above in relevant assays in collaboration with Atlas Genetics Ltd. 3) Prototype aliquots will be offered to KOL's in industry. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Pilot production of engineered nucleases with applications in molecular biology and diagnostic devices |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sheffield PI carried out the work , companies provide reagents, ran experiments |
| Impact | BioServUK is developing and refining the protein production process. 2) We will also develop, via a recently appointed Ph.D. student, additional nucleases produced above in relevant assays in collaboration with Atlas Genetics Ltd. 3) Prototype aliquots will be offered to KOL's in industry. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Predictive tools for folding-supportive sequence design spaces |
| Organisation | UCB Pharma |
| Department | UCB Celltech |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Academic Partner: The dataset resulting from this work has given us sufficient information to have a starting point for a more systematic exploration of rythm-optimisation on a non-IP protected model protein which we can then publish. An outstanding question we will address in this work concerns the optimal location of slowly decoded sequences with respect to the folded domains. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Predictive tools for folding-supportive sequence design spaces |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Academic Partner: The dataset resulting from this work has given us sufficient information to have a starting point for a more systematic exploration of rythm-optimisation on a non-IP protected model protein which we can then publish. An outstanding question we will address in this work concerns the optimal location of slowly decoded sequences with respect to the folded domains. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Production of therapeutic and industrial proteins in microalgae |
| Organisation | Protein Technologies Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Impact | The main outcomes of the work are: vectors containing the infrared protein gene for chloroplast transformation of microalgae and plants; the isolation of transgenic algal strains expressing the infrared protein; methods for detecting the accumulation of the infrared protein in transgenic algae. The BIV established a dialogue that led to a productive working partnership with protein technologies Ltd. The main outcomes were: 1) Access to research staff with expertise in handling the novel infrared protein; 2) Access to proprietary information, methods, reagents and equipment, 3) Working on a commercial protein with a clear route to market, that we would not have considered outside this collaboration, 4) An insight into the role of 'market pull' in product development, 5) Free exchange of ideas and importantly: an industrial partner willing to apply for collaborative grants. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Production of therapeutic and industrial proteins in microalgae |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV award |
| Impact | The main outcomes of the work are: vectors containing the infrared protein gene for chloroplast transformation of microalgae and plants; the isolation of transgenic algal strains expressing the infrared protein; methods for detecting the accumulation of the infrared protein in transgenic algae. The BIV established a dialogue that led to a productive working partnership with protein technologies Ltd. The main outcomes were: 1) Access to research staff with expertise in handling the novel infrared protein; 2) Access to proprietary information, methods, reagents and equipment, 3) Working on a commercial protein with a clear route to market, that we would not have considered outside this collaboration, 4) An insight into the role of 'market pull' in product development, 5) Free exchange of ideas and importantly: an industrial partner willing to apply for collaborative grants. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Protein Analytics |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This workshop financed by BioProNET brought together key industrialist and academics interested in developing analytical approaches for monitoring and characterising recombinant proteins. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Hosted workshop. |
| Impact | Grant proposals developed and key challenges identified. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Rapid processing to recover high value microbial by-products |
| Organisation | Recyclatech Group Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Through biopronet funding we have discovered that the bacteria used by Recylclatech have the capacity to stabilise water in oil and oil in water emulsions. By selecting for the latter we were able to capture bacteria from bulk solutions by skimming off oil droplets that the cells associate with. This represents an extremely facile and cost-effective procedure to collect bacteria from a batch reaction. Bacteria recovered in this manner can then be treated to extract the valuable biosurfactant from the cell wall. Moreover we discovered that by changing the nature of the bacteria's feedstock we could alter their wetting properties, allowing for a wide range of emulsion types to be stabilised. In other words this work has generated a handle ti select for the most useful emulsion type from an industrial perspective |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Rapid processing to recover high value microbial by-products |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB BIV funding |
| Impact | Through biopronet funding we have discovered that the bacteria used by Recylclatech have the capacity to stabilise water in oil and oil in water emulsions. By selecting for the latter we were able to capture bacteria from bulk solutions by skimming off oil droplets that the cells associate with. This represents an extremely facile and cost-effective procedure to collect bacteria from a batch reaction. Bacteria recovered in this manner can then be treated to extract the valuable biosurfactant from the cell wall. Moreover we discovered that by changing the nature of the bacteria's feedstock we could alter their wetting properties, allowing for a wide range of emulsion types to be stabilised. In other words this work has generated a handle ti select for the most useful emulsion type from an industrial perspective |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Recent breakthroughs and perspectives in protein aggregation |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This workshop financed by BioProNET brought together key industrialist and academics interested in protein aggregation with regard to recombinant biotherapeutic protein production. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Hosted the workshop. |
| Impact | Brought together key leaders in the area to develop new themes for investigation and proposals. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Recombinant Protein Authenticity |
| Organisation | University of Kent |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This workshop financed by BioProNET brought together key industrialist and academics interested in investigating recombinant protein authenticity. |
| Collaborator Contribution | University of Kent hosted the workshop. |
| Impact | Grant application awarded to a number of attendees who developed collaboration as a result of this meeting (£681,000). |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Scale up of vaccine production in a microalgal host for animal trials |
| Organisation | MicroSynbiotiX |
| Country | Ireland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | £10k of funding from BioProNET |
| Collaborator Contribution | UCL and MicrosynbiotiX did the work |
| Impact | As a result of this project, field trials of fish feeding were initiated The UCL team has also used the work to apply for an NERC/BBSRC grant on the use of algal-based vaccines in aquaculture. This grant has recently been awarded and will start in January 2019. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Scale up of vaccine production in a microalgal host for animal trials |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | £10k of funding from BioProNET |
| Collaborator Contribution | UCL and MicrosynbiotiX did the work |
| Impact | As a result of this project, field trials of fish feeding were initiated The UCL team has also used the work to apply for an NERC/BBSRC grant on the use of algal-based vaccines in aquaculture. This grant has recently been awarded and will start in January 2019. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Supercritical fluid processing to improve the stability and delivery of low dose biopharmaceuticals |
| Organisation | Crystec Pharma |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | Primarily these outcomes will enable further funding (grant or commercial) to be sought in order to progress the collaboration between Crystec and the University of Leeds. Commercial investment opportunities are currently being followed up and grant opportunities include BioProNET Proof of Concept, MRC MICA and relevant Innovate UK schemes. The next tranche of funding will allow key questions to be answered in order to enhance the level of retained activity achieved, as well as understanding and improving the stability features that SCF powders can offer. Ultimately, it is hoped that together we can progress the development of an improved fibrinolytic therapy that is easily reconstituted, potentially able to be administered at a lower dose, and with improved stability thus able to be delivered outside of a refrigerated hospital setting. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Supercritical fluid processing to improve the stability and delivery of low dose biopharmaceuticals |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | business interaction voucher funding |
| Impact | Primarily these outcomes will enable further funding (grant or commercial) to be sought in order to progress the collaboration between Crystec and the University of Leeds. Commercial investment opportunities are currently being followed up and grant opportunities include BioProNET Proof of Concept, MRC MICA and relevant Innovate UK schemes. The next tranche of funding will allow key questions to be answered in order to enhance the level of retained activity achieved, as well as understanding and improving the stability features that SCF powders can offer. Ultimately, it is hoped that together we can progress the development of an improved fibrinolytic therapy that is easily reconstituted, potentially able to be administered at a lower dose, and with improved stability thus able to be delivered outside of a refrigerated hospital setting. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Top Down Mass Spectrometry Methods for Full Characterisation of Biopharmaceuticals |
| Organisation | Covance Clinical and Periapproval Services Limited |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out research |
| Impact | http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C8SC05029E |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Top Down Mass Spectrometry Methods for Full Characterisation of Biopharmaceuticals |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | funded by biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out research |
| Impact | http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C8SC05029E |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Towards a cell-free expression system based on Pichia pastoris |
| Organisation | Fujifilm |
| Department | Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | The most important outcome of the work was that we were able to generate a working cell-free protein synthesis extract from P. pastoris. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Towards a cell-free expression system based on Pichia pastoris |
| Organisation | Imperial College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Collaborator Contribution | NIBB proof of concept funding |
| Impact | The most important outcome of the work was that we were able to generate a working cell-free protein synthesis extract from P. pastoris. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | mproved Preservation of Biologics by Continuous Intensified Lyophilisation (cLYO) |
| Organisation | Accelyo Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded bt biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | ongoing |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | mproved Preservation of Biologics by Continuous Intensified Lyophilisation (cLYO) |
| Organisation | Glythera Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded bt biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | ongoing |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | mproved Preservation of Biologics by Continuous Intensified Lyophilisation (cLYO) |
| Organisation | Lonza Group |
| Country | Global |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | funded bt biopronet |
| Collaborator Contribution | collaborators carried out the research |
| Impact | ongoing |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Title | PROTEIN STRUCTURE ANALYSIS BASED ON RED-EDGE EXCITATION SHIFT (REES) SPECTROSCOPY |
| Description | A protein structure analysis method is described that comprises : receiving a fluorescence emission spectrum generated by a protein sample at a first excitation wavelength, the protein sample being configured to exhibit fluorescence in dependence upon its conformational state; evaluating, from the fluorescence emission spectrum, an indication characteristic of a fluorescence response of the protein sample at the first excitation wavelength; repeating the receiving and evaluating steps in relation to a plurality of fluorescence emission spectra, each fluorescence spectrum generated by the protein sample at a different excitation wavelength to the first excitation wavelength; generating a non-linear relationship between excitation wavelength and indication characteristic of fluorescence response of the protein sample, the non-linear relationship comprising an indication of at least one characteristic of the conformational state of the protein sample, based upon correlation of the received excitation wavelengths and associated evaluated indications characteristic of the fluorescence response of the protein sample. The method can be used with any protein which includes one or more naturally occurring fluorescent amino acids (intrinsic fluorophores), and particularly those with Trp residues (most), or proteins having appropriately selected extrinsic fluorophores. |
| IP Reference | WO2017158371 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | 2017 |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | none |
| Description | 7 open days at University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Describing the research we undertake in the laboratory, covering all aspects of the research and the impact this has/can have. Particular questions around genetic modification of cells to produce recombinant proteins in all sessions and discussions around both the ethical aspects of this and the potential applications of such technology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
| Description | BEST (Bioprocess Entrepreneurial Skills Training) - 4-9 September 2022, Durham - in collaboration with E3B NIBB |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A skills school for those working or studying in the bioprocessing area with visits to industrial sites, master classes on new and emerging areas and approaches and a team exercise around development of an IVTmRNA vaccine candidate. At our week-long, intensive residential training programme, designed around the insights and advice of senior industrialists, you will take part in group-based activities and work with real-life industrial case studies. The programme is designed to engage with the process of entrepreneurship, focus on development of your ability to promote yourself and your research ideas and their value to audiences and the key importance of the societal impact of industrial biotechnology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://mib-nibb.webspace.durham.ac.uk/events/ |
| Description | Big Bang Science Faire |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Making medicines interactive activity. Comparison of small v large biological medicines and difficulty/complexity of making larger molecules v smaller ones. Learnt about how our medicines are discovered and manufactured. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.kentandmedwaystem.org.uk/index.php/events/report/755/ |
| Description | Big Bang at Discovery Park |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Student and teacher evaluation suggest it was a day of 'awesome activities', 'wonderful activities' and STEM professionals who inspired the students to think they could and they can be successful in STEM'. Teacher feedback suggested that this was the best year yet and that it was a success in meeting the needs of their pupils. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017,2018,2019 |
| URL | http://www.thestemhub.org.uk |
| Description | BioProNET artwork depicting bioprocessing and networks required to manufacture medicines |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Professional artwork that depicts the work of the BioProNET NIBB and provides a forum to provoke discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| URL | http://www.keithrobinsonpainting.com/BioProNET |
| Description | BioProNET2 & DataHow AG joint workshop - 7 Oct 2021, virtual |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Virtual workshop describing how modelling can be used to predict behaviour of cell lines during bioprocessing and to drive bioprocess development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | BioProNET2 & Metalytics joint workshop - 21 Feb 2022, virtual |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Workshop around application of AI and modelling approaches to bioprocess development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | BioProNET2 /KTN joint Formulation meeting - 23 Jan 2023, Manchester |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Meeting to discuss formulation of biologics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | BioProNET2 Annual meeting Oct 11/12 2022, Stevenage |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Annual conference of BioProNET over 2 days held at GSK, Stevenage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://biopronetuk.org |
| Description | Chartham primary school science day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 150 primary school children got hands-on experience of how science integrates into everyday life. The teachers said the children found it really interesting. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Chemistry at Work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | General outreach to encourage students to consider chemistry at work. Students built plasmid DNA molecules and undertook size exclusion chromatography to separate molecules of different sizes. Discussions around molecules and medicines. Acted as STEM ambassadors. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.kentandmedwaystem.org.uk/index.php/events/report/792/ |
| Description | Langton MBP project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Mentoring and aiding in running of research project at Simon Langton Grammar School for boys to sixth formers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | News story on different SARS-CoV-2 tests |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Described different test for SARS-CoV-2. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/covid19/25529/explainer-what-are-the-three-covid-19-tests |
| Description | Open Day talks and lab tours |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Tours of research laboratory, demonstrating of research and talk/presentation on the work that we do. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
| Description | Open Days |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talks to potential undergraduate students and parents on the work within the laboratory around CHO cell bioprocessing and production of recombinant proteins and vaccines. Demonstratuions of work being undertaken and Q&A sessions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| Description | Open Days At University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This activity is take take parents and secondary students around my research laboratories to explain the research undertaken and to demonstrate some of the research that we do in the laboratory. Parents and students asked about engineering of cell lines and therapeutic recombinant protein drugs and how these are made, cost implications and on-going research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 |
| Description | Open day lab tours and research presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Visit into research lab and discussion around development of vaccines and biotherapeutic proteins for the treatment of disease. Demonstrations of laboratory experiments and question and answer sessions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Open day tours of research laboratory and discussions with participants |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 8 days of open day activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Summer Science Exhibition is an annual display of the most cutting-edge science and technology in the UK. This free, week-long festival features exhibits and a series of inspiring talks and activities for all ages. Meet the scientists, discover the exciting research and technology they work on and have fun with great hands-on activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2019/summer-science-exhibition/ |
| Description | School visit/outreach for several days at Simon Langton Boys Grammar - MBP2 project showing students how to clone, express and purify recombinant proteins in the laboratory and discuss science behind this. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Helping with research activity in school - cloning and expression of recombinant proteins |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
| Description | Talk at Simon Langton Girls Grammar School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk on research of making biopharmaceuticals. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Turkey Public Biotechnology Talk |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to public audience in Turkey on behalf of the British Council around biotechnology and its application. Event was filmed and followed by a question and answer session, answering questions sent in before the talk by social media and then from the audience. The event was filmed and shown on national TV in Turkey. Large range of topics discussed around the application of biotechnology to every day life and issues with long discussion/debate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.britishcouncil.org.tr/en/programmes/education/science-innovation-talks/biotechnology |