The CD LABORATORY aims at developing methods which improve bioprocesses and their effectiveness along their life cycle. The methods follow the paths of fundamental innovation using a mechanistic and physiological approach. The methods focus on simplicity and transferability; therefore we target a generic approach for various technologies and focus on understanding platform technologies instead of individual products.
The major industrial need addressed within this CD Laboratory is the development of generic physiological scale-up procedures along with scalable control strategies. Thus, the process failure rate from lab-scale development to implementation at production scale is reduced and smooth integration of new clones in the production is facilitated.
The first two to three years focus on i) hybrid methodss for representative biomass sensing in real-time, ii) methodologies to resolve scalable physiological parameters in dynamic process conditions and iii) exploring scale down technologies and parallel approaches to efficiently extract platform knowledge. Subsequent years focus on modeling and control, as well on process understanding of integrated processes.
The main tools for those activities are dynamic process conditions coupled with hybrids of hard and soft-type sensors for real-time extraction of scalable physiological information, as well as the combination of advanced analytical devices for exploring the interlink between morphology and physiology.
Bridging the outlined gaps, the deliverables include methods, which
¿ propose robust sensors for direct and indirect quantification of the viable, actively producing amount of biomass and targeting of its physiological state,
¿ enable real-time bioprocess characterization by robust calculation of physiological scalable parameters even in dynamic process conditions,
¿ allow an experimental design procedure including dynamic process conditions to gather physiological information in a fast and efficient way,
¿ identify process modes to trigger biomass activity, morphology and physiology and demonstrate scientific understanding of interconnections between these key process parameters,
¿ propose hybrid process models allowing the interlink between physiological and complex morphological characteristics for filamentous organisms and mammalian cells and
¿ predict scale-up by extrapolating results from screening procedures to large scale processes using scalable control strategies.
Inherent to all deliverables is the extraction of relevant information and knowledge into simplified methods. This enables the transfer to industrial application but also the generation of platform knowledge for synergetic development of product n+1 and process n+1.
The years three to five are characterized by extending the methodological findings to more complex technologies as well as using them as inputs to new research topics in the research areas for multivariate control and integrated process development.
As this CD Laboratory is methodology driven, many deliverables of the activities are naturally directly linked to basic science.
The intended overall scope should POSITION THE CD LABORATORY IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY AS A CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SIMPLE TRANSFERABLE BUT SOUND SCIENCE BASED METHODOLOGIES FOR MULTIPLE BIOPROCESS TECHNOLOGIES.
