Sofia Simaria
Lecturer in Bioprocess Systems Engineering
Phone:+44 (0)20 7679 7745 (Internal 37745)
a.simaria@ucl.ac.uk
Education
PhD (Industrial Management) University of Aveiro, Portugal (2006)
MSc (Quantitative Methods for Management) University of Porto, Portugal (2001)
5 year undergraduate degree (Management and Industrial Engineering) University of Aveiro, Portugal (1998)
Professional Appointments, Honours and Awards
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Dep. Biochemical Engineering, University College London, UK (2008-2012)
Honorary Lecturer, Dep. Biochemical Engineering, University College London, UK (2010-2011)
Assistant Professor, Dep. Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering, University of Aveiro, Portugal (2006-2008)
Teaching Assistant, Dep. Economics, Management and Industrial Engineering, University of Aveiro, Portugal (2002-2006)
Research Interests
Sofia’s current research focuses on the development of computer-based decision-support models that capture the process-business interface of biopharmaceutical manufacture. She works in the Decisional Tools research group lead by Dr. Suzanne Farid.
Sofia has extensive experience in the development of simulation models and optimisation algorithms for improving the efficiency of assembly line production systems and since she has joined UCL she is bringing that experience into the biopharmaceutical production area.
She has worked on a collaborative TSB-EPSRC funded research project between UCL and MedImmune focusing on creating a tool that integrates multi-objective decision analysis and combinatorial optimisation techniques to allow for a holistic assessment of the process-business interactions of alternative production strategies. The tool is being applied to the production of antibodies derived from cell culture processes.
Currently she is part of the research team of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Emergent Macromolecular Therapies where she contributes to the development of a decision-support optimisation software tool for the bioprocessing sector that can locate the most cost-effective combination of process parameters, process sequence, formulation method and facility design under uncertainty.
She also collaborates on a TSB Technology Programme which is enabling research into decision-support tools that help devise successful business models for novel regenerative medicine therapies such as stem cells and cell-based vaccine cancer therapy. This is in collaboration with Lonza Biologics, UCL Dept. of Management Science & Innovation, the NHS Technology Adoption Centre, LGC and Future Medicine.
Teaching and Training Activities
Sofia coordinates the new MEng/MSc course module Bioprocess Systems Engineering, designed to provide students with skills in advanced modelling, optimisation and statistical techniques such that they are adequately equipped to address problems related to evaluating the cost-effectiveness and robustness of alternative bioprocess design strategies
Selected Publications
Simaria, AS, Turner, R and Farid, SS (2012) “A multi-level meta-heuristic algorithm for the optimisation of antibody purification processes”, B:iochemical Engineering Journal, 69, 144–154, doi:10.1016/j.bej.2012.08.013.
Stonier, A, Simaria, AS, Smith, M and Farid, SS (2012) “Decisional tool to assess current and future process robustness in an antibody purification facility”, Biotechnology Progress, 28, 1019-1028, doi: 10.1002/btpr.1569.
Simaria, AS, Gao, Y, Turner, R and Farid, SS (2011) “Designing multi-product biopharmaceutical facilities using evolutionary algorithms” Proceedings of ESCAPE21 - 21st European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering, May 29- June 1, Chalikidiki, Greece.
Simaria, AS and Farid, SS (2010) “Process intensification of antibody purification processes: a comparison of MILP versus evolutionary algorithms”, Proceedings of the ESCAPE20 – 20th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering, 6-9 June, Ischia, Naples, Italy.
Simaria, AS, Xambre, AR, Filipe, NA, Vilarinho, PM (2010) "A Decision Support System for Assembly and Production Line Balancing", Handbook on Business Information Systems, Gunasekaran, A and Sandhu, M (eds), World Scientific Books.
Simaria, AS and Vilarinho, PM (2009) “2-ANTBAL: An ant colony optimisation algorithm for balancing two-sided assembly lines”, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 56, 489 -506.
Simaria AS, Zanella de Sa, M, Vilarinho, PM (2009) “Meeting demand variations using flexible U-shaped assembly lines”, International Journal of Production Research, 47, 3937-3955.
Vilarinho, PM and Simaria, AS (2006) “ANTBAL: an ant colony optimization approach for balancing mixed model assembly lines with parallel workstations”, International Journal of Production Research, 44, 291-303.
Mendes, AR, Ramos, AL, Simaria, AS and Vilarinho, PM (2005) “Combining heuristic procedures and simulation models for balancing a PC camera assembly line”, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 49, 413-431.
Simaria, AS and Vilarinho, PM (2004) “A genetic algorithm based approach to the mixed model assembly line balancing problem of type II”, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 47, 391-407.
Vilarinho, PM and Simaria, AS (2002) “A two-stage heuristic method for balancing mixed-model assembly lines with parallel workstations and zoning constraints”, International Journal of Production Research, 40, 1405-1420.
Simaria, AS and Vilarinho, PM (2001) “The simple assembly line balancing problem with parallel workstations - a simulated annealing approach”, International Journal of Industrial Engineering – Theory, Applications and Practice, 8, 230-240.
Page last modified on 21 nov 12 15:59
