New platforms for the downstream processing of biopharmaceuticals

Abstract

The ageing of the European population continues to advance and will become one of the key driving forces of societal change in the decades ahead. The specific needs of an older generation for new affordable biopharmaceuticals such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to treat age-and prosperity-related diseases such as Alzheimer, cancer, or rheumatism, will increase considerably, reinforcing the demand for efficient, scalable and cost-effective production technologies. Continuous discoveries in molecular biology and genetics, combined with new advances in media and feed development, have significantly increased the production titres. In order to keep up this gain, it is now essential to design new, as well as to improve the existing downstream processes that remain an unresolved bottleneck. This project describes several alternatives to the currently established platforms for the downstream processing biopharmaceuticals, with main focus on aqueous two-phase extraction, magnetic separation and monolithic chromatographic, with integration of cell separation and bioproduct purification.