RICC · The Application of Advanced Raman Spectroscopies to the Quantitative Analysis of Industrial Chromatography Columns
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-10-01 → 2018-09-30
- EU contribution
- €175,866
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The Application of Advanced Raman Spectroscopies to the Quantitative Analysis of Industrial Chromatography Columns
When manufacturing modern biological medicines (biopharmaceuticals), the final steps involve separating and purifying the drugs/proteins using various chromatographic methods. Protein chromatography columns are very expensive (can be >€1M), and cannot be easily replaced unless there is strong evidence (further along the processing stream) that they are not functioning properly, or that they have begun to degrade. This project aimed to develop optical technologies that could be used to monitor the efficacy and health of chromatography columns and let operators know when column degradation started to occur. The biopharmaceutical industry produces important medical products such as drugs, vaccines, and hormones that are vital to modern European society. The development of cutting edge analytical techniques will enable better understanding of industrial processes and could aid the development of new products. More tangibly, the work will have a direct and measurable economic impact; in any process where our technologies can replace more complex and time-consuming “wet chemistry” analytical techniques, costs can be reduced, thus leading to less expensive medicines.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Dr. Kevin Buckley (KB) was awarded his PhD from University College London (UCL) in 2011. At UCL he had worked to develop Raman spectroscopy as a tool for bone-disease diagnosis and he subsequently took a position as a Laser Spectroscopy Scientist, at the Rutherford Appleton Lab (RAL) in Oxfordshire, England, to continue this work. After leaving RAL, KB moved to the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. At UBC he worked to develop a Raman spectroscopy-based instrument for detecting chemical changes in (donated) human red blood cells as they age in plastic blood-bags. He has recently (Aug 2015) returned to his home country of Ireland and the primary aim of the proposed Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship is to reintegrate him with the research community there. The primary scientific objectives of the fellowship to develop novel analytical methods based on Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) for applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. It is proposed that this interdisciplinary research take place under the supervision of Dr. Alan Ryder (AR) in the Nanoscale Biophotonics Lab (NBL) at the National University of Ireland, Galway. The combination of KB’s SORS expertise with AR’s biopharma expertise has the potential to deliver innovative science; KB is one of the few researchers in the world who has years of experience with SORS of complex materials (he trained under the inventor of SORS, Prof. P. Matousek FRSC, at RAL) and AR is an international leader in the development of quantitative analytical methods for biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. In addition to scientific objectives, the fellowship programme has been designed to develop KB’s career and enhance his ability as a scientist. He will be provided with opportunities to develop academic teaching skills and will prepare a specific career development strategy. AR will also mentor KB as he prepares post-fellowship grant proposals and begins his independent academic career.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF GALWAY · GalwayCoordinatorIreland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union