Abstract: Biologics are life-saving drugs of biological origin. In recent years, there have been very promising developments in the area of new generation biologic modalities such as antibody-drug conjugates, mRNA vaccines and therapies, oncolytic viruses, virus like particles (VLPs), therapeutic bacteriophage, and vesicles such as exosomes. Techniques such as ultracentrifugation that are typically used at the product development stages are expensive and are not suitable for biomanufacturing. Using chromatography, which is extensively used for purifying established biologics such as monoclonal antibodies has also proved to be challenging. Some recent studies have shown that ultrafiltration could potentially be adopted and adapted to purify some of the new generation biologics. Ultrafiltration is cost-effective, fast, and highly scalable, and is widely used for low-resolution applications such as concentration, desalting and buffer exchange. However, currently used ultrafiltration equipment and processes such as tangential flow filtration are not suitable for high-resolution purification. Novel ultrafiltration equipment and process configurations that take into consideration the critical needs of specific products are therefore required. In this presentation, some new strategies for designing and developing customized ultrafiltration equipment and process configurations for purification of specific new biologics will be discussed.

Bio: Raja Ghosh obtained his doctorate degree in Engineering Science from Oxford University, United Kingdom. He began his academic career as a Departmental Lecturer of Chemical Engineering at Oxford University. He is currently Professor of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, Canada. His research interests are primarily in the areas of equipment design and process development for membrane and chromatographic separations. Application areas that interest him include purification and analysis of biologics, membrane bioreactors for mammalian cell culture, and water treatment. He has authored two books, Protein Bioseparation Using Ultrafiltration and Principles of Bioseparations Engineering, and has published over 160 research papers. His awards and accolades include a Commonwealth Scholarship and a Canada Research Chair position.

Details:

Date: Monday, February 24, 2025

Time: 4:00 PM EST

Location: Virtual (Microsoft Teams)

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