Unmet Need
Cell and cell-derived therapies, including protein and antibodies, are being developed as a new and promising class of medicine. These kinds of therapeutics require a nuanced and precise manufacturing process, including bioreactors and filtration systems that can reliably obtain large quantities of the desired product consistently [8, 9]. One challenge to this is the biofouling of tangential flow filtration membranes, or the build-up of undesired material that clogs the pores of the filters used to separate desired product from the rest of the cellular slurry. The current solution to this problem is frequent cleaning and/or replacement of filtration membranes, which is costly and inconvenient for uninterrupted production. One way to address this challenge would be to engineer a filtration system that does not get clogged with undesired bio-products and does not need to be replaced often. Thus, there is a strong need to develop a filtration membrane that resists biofouling in order to address this expensive challenge in biomanufacturing.
Technology Overview
Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a zwitterionic peptide modification for filtration membranes that will form a hydration shell and prevent undesired product from entering membrane pores, making the modified membrane resistant to biofouling. This system does not impact cell viability, which is important in the continuous production of therapeutics and in reducing the cost of production. This type of membrane modification could significantly improve the ability to create cell-derived therapies and make them increasingly cost effective to manufacture, which could in turn reduce the cost for both patients and third-party payers.
Stage of Development
This technology has been validated in vitro in a static environment; validation in a larger scale flow system is still required.
Publication
N/A
