PROCRYSTAL: Crystallisation towards efficient and sustainable biomanufacturing

Downstream processing (DSP) of biopharmaceuticals is dominated by chromatographic steps which suffer from low throughput, poor scalability and elevated energy consumption, as well as high equipment and materials costs. To this is added the low stability and high degradability of liquid formulations. The training program "Crystallisation towards efficient and sustainable biomanufacturing" (PROCRYSTAL) vision is that of crystallisation as a simple, sustainable, cost-efficient and scalable alternative to current DSP techniques and liquid formulations, once it allows to separate, purify and stabilise in a single step. Nevertheless, integrated training to exploit biocrystallisation full potential is currently not available, only fragmented research activities. Within this training program, 13 Doctoral candidates (DCs) are expected to go beyond current practise to respond to the near future biopharma manufacturing needs. And only possible leveraged by the expertise conveyed in this consortium on biomolecules crystallisation, biochemistry, chemical and process engineering as well as advanced modelling. The PROCRYSTAL training program for the DCs has been framed with special attention to fundamental understanding of the underlying phenomena, from the molecular scale to process scale, and advanced experimental and modelling techniques specific to crystallisation technology. The DCs will acquire a wide range of subject specific and general transferable skills, in an interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral environment and by multinational collaboration which enhances the early-career DCs long term employability and competitiveness.