Research

Research covers both experimental and theoretical grounds - detailed molecular / mesa / macro modeling and experimental data acquisition, verification, etcetera, and applied mainly to the field of biopharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

A special interest in our research is the combination of biotechnology/biophysics and micro systems. This combination is useful for studying and quantifying phenomena that determine the behavior of large-scale bioprocesses. But also it allows measuring interaction at the single molecule level, allowing bio molecular information to be retrieved which otherwise would remain impossible to obtain. This field is appropriately named Micro-Bio-Systems Technology (MBST). This combination is for example present in the field of biosensors development and application, which is an important topic in the emerging field of Process Analytical Techniques (PAT) and in diagnostics in the bio-medicinal sciences. It allows for measuring any kind of interactions that play a role in biology, medicine, pharmacology or biotechnology. The development of on-chip technologies for these applications is a main driver.

Small scale screening devices are developed that are used in combination with robotic High Throughput Screening (HTS) and detailed modeling for large scale Process Development for the purification of biologicals: High Throughput Process Development (HTPD).

Process Chromatography (PC), as opposed to analytical chromatography, deals with the separation of mixtures of near-identical bio-molecules on production scale. Since many bio-molecules are pharmaceutical intermediates, high-resolution separation technology such as process chromatography is crucial. The group's research focuses on the rational development of conventional and novel chromatographic systems as well as continuous counter-current chromatography, e.g. Simulated Moving Bed technology.