NIIMBL Announces $15.8M to Fund 14 New Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Projects

NEWARK, Del. – The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is pleased to announce approximately $15.8M in planned project activities through the Institute's Project Call 5.2 for 14 new projects in technology and workforce development that will help to address key opportunities for innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry. 

These projects were selected to best align with key areas of focus identified by NIIMBL and which best align to address industry needs.

"NIIMBL is looking forward to adding these projects to our technology portfolio, advancing our community's efforts in key areas of cell processing, measurement of critical quality attributes and process variables during biopharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as improving reliability and assuring quality during those manufacturing processes," states Chris Roberts, Associate Institute Director.

Project Call 5.2 also included several workforce development projects that provide a variety of opportunities to those interested in entering or developing skills within the biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

"The newest slate of workforce projects will advance NIIMBL's workforce and talent development mission by driving industry adoption of alternative pathways into the industry, increasing awareness about biopharmaceutical manufacturing careers in diverse populations, as well as catalyzing new education and professional development in cell therapy, gene therapy, and mRNA vaccine manufacturing," adds John Balchunas, Director of Workforce Development.

To date, NIIMBL has awarded approximately 100 technical, workforce development, and Global Health Fund projects through the Project Call process with a total project investment of over $95M since 2017 when the Institute launched. The NIIMBL community is comprised of more than 200 members from academia, industry, government, and non-profit organizations all sharing a common goal to advance biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

For a description of each project and to learn more about NIIMBL, please visit the Project Call 5.2 website.

5.2 Project List

 

Project: Integrated Continuous USP Platform for Maximum Productivity and Closed-loop controlled CQA

  • Lead: University of Massachusetts System
  • Participant(s): Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Whirlcell LLC., Yokogawa Corporation of America, Pfizer, Inc.

 

Project: Real-Time, Absolute Quantitation of Critical Bioprocessing Metabolites with the AI-powered Pyxis™ Metabolomics Platform

  • Lead: Matterworks, Inc.
  • Participant(s): Sartorius Stedim, Eli Lilly and Company

 

Project: Innovative scalable technologies for production of cell therapies

  • Lead: University of Delaware
  • Participant(s): MilliporeSigma/EMD Serono, Agilent

 

Project: An Integrated Platform for Fully Automated, Continuous, & Real-Time Multi-Attributes Monitoring of Upstream Processes for Glycosylated Monoclonal Antibodies Production

  • Lead: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
  • Participant(s): University of Delaware, Agilent, Endress + Hauser Optical Analysis

 

Project: Virus and Endotoxin Clearance Strategies for Safe and Reliable Production of AAV

  • Lead: BioCentriq
  • Participant(s): Pall Corporation/Cytiva

 

Project: Advanced Bioprocessing Sensor and Analytical Technologies for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Culture Online Monitoring and Automation

  • Lead: Northeastern University
  • Participant(s): Agilent, Clemson University, MilliporeSigma/EMD Serono, Physical Sciences Inc., University of Massachusetts System

 

Project: Machine-guided rapid decision-making on quality of viruses as products and for viral clearance determination

  • Lead: Carnegie Mellon University
  • Participant(s): Sartorius Stedim

 

Project: Modernizing clearance and quantification of host-cell proteins in mAb manufacture

  • Lead: University of Delaware
  • Participant(s): Bristol-Myers Squibb, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Genentech, LigaTrap Technologies, LLC, Merck & Co., Inc., North Carolina State University, Pfizer, Inc., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

 

Project: Time-Gated Raman spectroscopy to improve chemical sensitivity for in-situ bioreactor monitoring

  • Lead: National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education, Inc. (NIPTE) (Duquesne University)
  • Participant(s): Pfizer, Inc.

 

Project: Biomanufacturing Technician Apprenticeship Program

  • Lead: MassBio Education Foundation
  • Participant(s): Northeastern University


Project: Promoting Careers in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Operations to High School Students

  • Lead: North Caroline Biotechnology Center
  • Participant(s): Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Pitt Community College

 

Project: A Public-Private Partnership Strategy for Workforce Training in Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing

  • Lead: University of California, Davis
  • Participant(s): Eli Lilly and Company, Pall Corporation/Cytiva, Solano College

 

Project: Bridge to Bio

  • Lead: University of Virginia
  • Participant(s): Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer, Inc.

 

Project: Modular Training for the Vaccine Development & Manufacturing Workforce

  • Lead: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Participant(s): Merck & Co., Inc., Quincy College, Sanofi

 

*All funding is subject to project agreement negotiations


 

Contact:
News Media
Maria X. Chacon
Director of Marketing and Communications
302-831-2337
mchacon@udel.edu

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NIIMBL

The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry. NIIMBL is part of Manufacturing USA®, a diverse network of federally sponsored manufacturing innovation institutes, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce with significant additional support from its members.

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