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Aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) can bring numerous benefits to the downstream processing of biological products, including high recovery yields, high selectivity and relatively low cost. With biomanufacturing entering an era where continuous processing is regarded as the key solution to increase flexibility and decrease costs, the intrinsic characteristics of ATPE and high degree of integration, makes it highly suitable for continuous processing. In a recent paper published in Fluid Phase Equilibria, Diogo Faria and colleagues from BERG-IBB make a brief review of the history of continuous ATPE, analyse the main devices used in continuous extraction, and discuss the key and future challenges in the development of continuous processes.

The first consortium meeting of the EU-funded ITN CODOBIO: Continuous Downstream Processing of Biologics was held on the 22nd October at IST, Lisbon. The consortium involves 20 participants from Academia, Industry and Regulatory Agencies. Thirty two members were present in the meeting including the 15 Early Stage Researchers. Amin Javidanbardan and Malik Wahab from BERG-iBB had the opportunity to present their PhD projects, which focus on the miniaturization of continuous bioprocesses using microfluidics.

Rapid empirical optimization/screening of the partition of biomolecules in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) can be performed in microfluidic devices coupled with fluorescence microscopy. However, the effect of fluorescent tags on partition must be carefully evaluated to assess the validity of extrapolating the results to a situation where the molecules are unlabelled. To evaluate this influence, researchers from BERG-iBB and INESC-MN (Mariana São Pedro, Ana Azevedo, Maria Raquel Aires-Barros and Ruben Soares) carried out an ATPS study using both microtubes (batch) and microfluidic devices (continuous). IgG molecules were labelled with three fluorescent tags with different global charge and reactivity, namely BODIPY™ FL maleimide, Alexa Fluor® 430 NHS ester and BODIPY™ FL NHS ester. The thiol reactive BODIPY™ FL maleimide coupled with a reducing agent provided minimal bias relative to the native molecule in PEG-phosphate systems. The work was recently published in the Biotechnology Journal.

Inês Pinto from BERG-iBB just won the ESBES Award at the ESBES 2018 conference held in Lisbon (8-12 September 2018) for her work “Optimizing the performance of chromatographic separations using integrated microfluidic devices: adsorption/elution kinetic studies and multiplexed analysis”. The work is part of Inês' PhD project on Biotechnology and is co-authored by Raquel Aires Barros, Viginia Chu, João Pedro Conde and Ana Azevedo. Diogo Pinto from SCERG was one of the runnerups of the competition. The ESBES Award is granted biannually by the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences and aims at recognizing outstanding PhD thesis or scientific publications by students or early carrier researchers in the field of biochemical engineering.

The 3-fold increase in global population within the last 70 years implies a demand for an equally fast paced global food trade. Thus, to assure high food safety standards and protect the consumers, simple, rapid and effective means of screening food contaminants are required to adequately enforce regulations. Towards this goal, researchers at BERG-iBB and INESC MN recently developed a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic device with integrated photodetectors, allowing the simultaneous immunodetection of three harmful fungal toxins in a single step, in less than one minute and at concentrations in the parts-per-billion range. The work was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Lab on a Chip.

Diogo Faria, PhD candidate at BIOTECnico Programme in IBB-BERG, gave a poster presentation at the conference "Integrated Continuous Biomanufacturing IV", organized by ECI (Engineering Conferences International), held in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in October 6-9. The poster was about Continuous Aqueous Two-Phase System Extraction using Oscillatory Flow Reactor. The work was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Ana Azevedo (IBB-BERG) and Prof. Raquel Aires Barros (iBB-BERG), with colaboration of António Ferreira (FEUP).

The establishment of novel, simpler and improved purification processes is extremely important to make antibody-based treatment options more accessible and with a lower economic burden to healthcare systems and patients. In this context, the development of microfluidic tools for the optimization of chromatography operating conditions can offer advantages such as low consumption of molecules, fast generation of results and ability to automate and multiplex the assays. In a collaboration between INESC-MN and iBB, researchers have recently reported a novel microfluidics-based methodology to perform rapid and multiplexed screening of various chromatography ligands relative to their ability to bind different target molecules in solution. The work was published in the Biotechnology Journal and is expected to contribute to the fields of separation sciences and analytical chemistry and inspire new developments within the purification of biopharmaceuticals or other molecules.

The 12th European Symposium on Biochemical Engineering Sciences was held in Lisbon from 9 to 12 of September of 2018 at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. This year, the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences (ESBES) organized the event with the collaboration of iBB/IST, SPBT and Dechema. Raquel Aires-Barros, the event chair, and Ana Azevedo, co-chair, mobilized a team of 15 PhD and MSc students from IST to receive 324 participants (75% non-portuguese). As a complement to scientific lectures, the event featured workshops on Modelling, Monitoring, Measurement and Control (M3C), Scientific Writing and Bioengineering Education. The last topic was extensively discussed during the Symposium as a possible emergent section of ESBES to address and promote an active cooperation between European academia and industry. Click on the title for more information on ESBES 2018.