Michael Laird

Our laboratories are responsible for developing clinical and commercial manufacturing processes for therapeutic proteins. Major expression platforms include E. coli and Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells.

Our laboratories are housed within Late Stage Cell Culture as part of the Process Research & Development organization. We are responsible for developing clinical and commercial manufacturing processes for therapeutic proteins. Major expression platforms include E. coli and Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells. Some of the research activities that take place in our laboratories include but are not limited to:

• E. coli and CHO process development activities including scale-up
• Media development for CHO cell cultures including studies focused on fractionating complex undefined nutrients, identifying their active components and formulating chemically defined replacements
• Proteomic and genomic analyses to enhance our understanding of how the culture environment influences the protein production process
• Investigating the relationships between productivity & product quality attributes for both E. coli and CHO processes
• Studying & optimizing cellular metabolism for both E. coli and CHO processes
• Studying glycosylation in CHO cells
• Studying & optimizing protein folding and assembly in both E. coli and CHO production systems
• Developing high-throughput production systems for both E. coli & CHO cells
• Developing novel automated strategies for nutrient feeding for E. coli cultures at small- & large-scale
• Using computational fluid dynamics to understand how equipment differences influence mixing and mass transfer and using this information to optimize mixing conditions and control strategies