Research team awarded IChemE 2023 Global Award

We are proud to announce that staff and researchers from our department are winners of the Pharma Award at the IChemE 2023 Global Awards, together with colleagues from Eli Lilly and Company, Imperial College London and Queen Mary University London, all working together on an EPSRC part-funded Prosperity Partnership project. The Pharma Award recognises ‘the best project, process or product to demonstrate chemical engineering excellence in the pharmaceutical sector’ and is sponsored by Bouygues Energies & Services. The Partnership aims to deliver novel systems-based engineering design methods for the rapid development of manufacturing processes for advanced synthetic drugs. The team at UCL, led by Head of Department, Professor Eva Sorensen and including Professor Luca Mazzei, Dr Max Besenhard and Dr Federico Galvanin, focus on developing methodologies for in-silico HPL optimisation.
 
The researchers at UCL are investigating innovative drug substance purification techniques based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and are developing integrated HPLC systems and processes that will allow reducing the cost and time of performing advanced analytical chemistry significantly, a step that is required for the effective purification of drug substances. To achieve this, they are developing a framework that identifies the optimal combination of separation techniques and configurations for attaining the required drug substance purification and isolation.
 
Their research will deliver fundamental understanding, models, technologies, and design methodologies for accelerating the isolation and purification of synthetic drugs, from small molecules to peptides. This will improve the design, control and optimisation of medicine manufacturing processes, ultimately resulting in better and cheaper treatments for patients, thus positioning the UK at the leading edge of expertise and innovation in the manufacturing of high-value synthetic drugs, contributing to the growth of a value-creating innovation ecosystem.
 

Links

• IChemE celebrates 2023 Global Awards winners
• UCL Department of Chemical Engineering
• The Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering
• Eli Lilly and Company

Image credits

• IChemE
• Prof Eva Sorensen

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