Author Archives: Thomas Johnson

Visualization and Characterization of Chromatography Structures: Imaging at Packed-Bed and Individual-Bead Scales

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Packed-bed chromatography is a vital downstream operation for purifying valuable biological products, including monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and emergent therapeutic modalities such as viral vectors. Conventional chromatography unit operations in bioprocessing use highly porous microspheres packed into cylindrical columns, purifying complex feed streams through characteristics such as size, charge, and hydrophobicity. The porosity of both a packed bed and its constituent beads relates directly to the intended function and optimal performance in terms of both chemical and physical separation (1). High-resolution…

October 17, 2023

Using 3D Imaging To Understand Sterilizing-Grade Filtration of Liposomes

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Sterilizing-grade filtration is an essential operation for biomanufacturing. It ensures that drug substances are free from microorganisms at the end of a downstream process. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for high-quality therapies to be manufactured efficiently at scale, with particular focus on the need for multiple vaccines to be developed, produced, and distributed globally (1). Some vaccines have used lipid nanoparticle encapsulation technology, which also has potential for use in gene therapy development in the near future. Lipid…

October 20, 2022