Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The proposed research program builds on the strengths of past research efforts undertaken by the applicant on process development of chromatographic and photocatalytic technologies. This program explores to advance knowledge and find solutions in two broad research fields: (a) Chromatography: Recombinant therapeutic protein drugs constitute the fastest growing sector of the biopharmaceutical industry both in the amount of product required globally and the number of new drugs undergoing clinical trials. Technological advances in upstream process platform has evolved significantly, both on the cell line production and fed-batch cell culture bioreactor process fronts, leading to tremendous increases in product titers and diverting challenges to downstream process development mainly for separation and purification that comprises 50-70% of total manufacturing costs. Two classes of downstream purification processing of biologics are considered: (i) innovative methods for conversion of inactive and misfolded inclusion body proteins produced during bacterial overexpression into soluble bioactive products and its purification, and (ii) efficient platform for purification of monoclonal antibodies, vaccines and hormones produced in mammalian cells that requires multi-component separation using solvent gradient approach in multi-column continuous chromatography based on simulated moving bed technology. (b) Photocatalysis: Photocatalysis is a promising technology that finds extensive applications in producing hydrogen and detoxification of pollutants. The proposed research will develop transformative natural dye-sensitized solar photocatalysis expertise addressing all challenges impeding its current large-scale development for (i) producing high purity clean and sustainable hydrogen energy that does not emit greenhouse gases bypassing entirely the carbon cycle, and (ii) high-rate treatment of micro-pollutants present in water. Our work is aimed at synthesis of new eco-friendly materials, development of innovative process design, inventing new approaches for process intensification, and optimal operation of such process systems. The motivation of the proposed research program is to generate new knowledge and obtain deep understanding required to develop the next generation of technologies to produce valuable therapeutic protein drugs, new water treatment technologies and energy sources with improved efficiency, process simplicity, and lower costs. The key objectives in the program is to develop an integrated multi-disciplinary research and training program for well-rounded graduates with sound technical, scientific, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills, groomed by rigorous and comprehensive research training. This cutting-edge research program is expected to result in state-of-the-art technology development for applications in tomorrow's energy, environment, health, and water, the most important global challenges faced by humanity for the next few decades.