Platform to Advance Chromatographic and Photocatalytic Technologies for Applications in Health, Energy and Environment

拟议的研究计划建立在申请人过去在色谱和光催化技术的工艺开发方面所做的研究工作的基础上。该计划探索在两个广泛的研究领域推进知识和找到解决方案：（a）色谱：重组治疗蛋白质药物构成生物制药行业增长最快的部门，无论是在全球所需的产品数量还是正在进行临床试验的新药数量。上游工艺平台的技术进步在细胞系生产和细胞培养生物反应器工艺方面都有了显著发展，导致产品滴度大幅增加，将挑战转移到下游工艺开发，主要是分离和纯化，占总生产成本的50-70%。考虑两类下游净化处理技术：（i）用于将在细菌过表达期间产生的无活性和错误折叠的包涵体蛋白转化成可溶性生物活性产物及其纯化的创新方法，和（ii）用于纯化抗体的有效平台，疫苗和激素在哺乳动物细胞中产生，需要开发新的多-多柱连续色谱中基于溶剂梯度法的组分分离技术。(b)光催化：光催化技术是一种非常有前途的环境友好技术，在清洁制氢和去除有毒污染物方面有着广泛的应用。拟议的研究将开发变革性的天然染料敏化太阳能电池的专业知识，以解决阻碍其大规模应用的所有挑战：（i）生产高纯度的可持续氢能，不排放完全绕过碳循环的温室气体，以及（ii）高速率处理水中存在的微污染物。 我们的工作旨在合成新的环保材料，开发创新的工艺设计，发明新的工艺强化方法，并优化此类工艺系统的运行。拟议研究计划的动机是获得开发下一代技术所需的深入了解，以生产有价值的治疗纯健康产品，新的水处理技术和能源，提高效率，简化工艺，降低成本。该计划的主要目标是为具有良好的技术，科学，领导和创业技能的全面发展的毕业生制定一个综合的多学科综合研究和培训计划。这项尖端研究预计将导致最先进的技术开发，用于明天的能源，环境和健康，人类面临的最重要的全球挑战。

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 bio-pharmaceutical industry both in the amount of products required globally and the number of new drugs undergoing clinical trials. Technological advances in upstream process platform have evolved significantly, both on the cell line production and cell culture bioreactor process fronts, leading to large increases in product titers, diverting challenges to downstream process development mainly for separation and purification that comprise 50-70% of total manufacturing costs. Two classes of downstream purification processing technology are considered: (i) innovative methods for conversion of inactive and misfolded inclusion body proteins produced during bacterial over-expression into soluble bio-active products and its purification, and (ii) efficient platform for purification of antibodies, vaccines and hormones produced in mammalian cells that requires development of new multi-component separation technologies based on solvent gradient approach in multi-column continuous chromatography. (b) Photocatalysis: Photocatalysis is a promising environmentally friendly technology that finds extensive applications in producing clean hydrogen and removal of toxic pollutants. The proposed research will develop transformative natural dye-sensitized solar photocatalysis expertise addressing all challenges impeding its large-scale application for (i) producing high purity 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 obtain a deep understanding required to develop the next generation of technologies to produce valuable therapeutic pure health products, new water treatment technologies and energy sources with improved efficiency, process simplicity, and lower costs. The key objectives in the program are to develop an integrated multi-disciplinary comprehensive research and training program for well-rounded graduates with sound technical, scientific, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills. This cutting-edge research is expected to result in state-of-the-art technology development for applications in tomorrow's energy, environment and health, most important global challenges faced by humanity.