March 2016 NorCal AICHE Meeting

Synopsis of presentation: 

In the Bio Pharmaceutical industry, upstream unit operations such as cell culture conducted in large bioreactors and subsequent separation and product recovery steps via filtration, large scale chromatographic separation, ultrafiltration, are clearly the domain of the Chemical Engineer.  However, it is less known that fill/finish operations also involve fundamental heat and mass transfer and are equally suited for a well-trained and versatile engineer.  This presentation, which is a double header, will discuss freezing, for long-term intermediate storage and lyophilization (freeze drying), the last production step in the manufacture of many biological drugs.

The presentation will be followed by a tour of the development labs.     

Presenters: 

Philippe Lam, Ph.D.

Philippe Lam is a Principal Engineer at Genentech.  He holds a BS in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  After a brief stay in academics, teaching in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University, Philippe joined the Pharmaceutical Processing and Technology Development group at Genentech in 2000.  At Genentech, Philippe’s responsibilities include general manufacturing support as well as studies of large scale freeze-thaw of biologics, freeze-drying process development, spray-drying, container closure development.  

Lokesh Kumar, Ph.D.

Lokesh Kumar, is an Associate Scientist in the department of Pharmaceutical Processing and Technology Development at Genentech.  Lokesh did his PhD in small molecule solid state Pharmaceutics group at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar, India, for research in the area of preformulation optimization of small molecule drug candidate(s).  After PhD, Lokesh did a post-doctoral research fellowship in Dr. Michael Pikal’s lab at the University of Connecticut.  His postdoctoral research focused on the impact of water resorption on manometric product temperature measurement during primary drying stage of lyophilization.  At Genentech, he is responsible for developing and optimizing lyophilization cycle(s) for Genentech’s pipeline drug candidates.  His current research work primarily focuses on evaluating the effect of lyophilization processing on solid-state degradation of protein formulations.

Program consists of:

6:00-6:45 pm  Networking, refreshments, & food (provided by Genentech)

6:45 – 7:45 pm  Presentation

7:45 – 8:15 pm  Tour

8:15 – 8:30 pm  Questions and Wrap Up