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BTEC Bioprocess Services featured in BPI West Conference and Exposition presentations

Published Mar. 21, 2016

BTEC’s bioprocess services program featured in two presentations at the recent BPI West Conference and Exposition. The annual event, held March 14–17 in Oakland, Calif., is attended by representatives of companies from around the world that are engaged in biopharmaceutical process development and manufacturing.

Results from two projects carried out by BTEC’s bioprocess services program were presented at the conference. Gary Gilleskie, BTEC’s Director of Operations, presented on a collaboration with Entegris that looked at the use of refractive index as an inline monitoring technique for downstream processing. The presentation, “Index of Refraction as an Alternative Process Analytical Technology for Downstream Process Monitoring,” presented data from studies conducted at BTEC that demonstrate the advantages of inline refractive index—seldom used in biopharmaceutical processes—over more traditional fluid monitoring techniques such as conductivity and UV absorbance, particularly for ultrafiltration/diafiltration steps in a biopharmaceutical process. The talk generated significant interest from the audience of 50+ conference participants. Work conducted in BTEC’s cell culture lab, led by BTEC Senior Scientist Sarwat Khattak and in collaboration with Distek, Inc., was presented in a poster by Distek. BTEC performed beta testing for a bioreactor prototype from Distek, and the results generated in BTEC’s lab figured prominently in the poster.

“BTEC’s work on both of these projects shows the positive impact our bioprocess services program is having on the companies and industry we serve,” said Dr. Gilleskie.

The conference included numerous technical sessions covering a range of topics, including lead optimization, cell line development, cell culture optimization, downstream processing, analytical development, and next generation bioprocessing strategies. Numerous vendors and contract service providers, many of whom BTEC works closely with, showcased their products and services in the conference exposition hall.