The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is pleased to announce awards for two projects to support Big Data Program initiatives on modeling and simulation. The awards stem from two Requests for Applications (RFAs) NIIMBL released in May 2025.
The 12-month projects are scheduled to begin in December.
The projects address critical industry needs for interoperable computer models to simulate conditions and attributes during upstream and downstream biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes at various scales. Computer models can be used to augment laboratory experiments to create more robust data that enable more efficient, flexible, and consistent manufacturing processes.
To address a critical component of upstream processing, a project led by Jeffrey Chalmers of The Ohio State University and Michael Betenbaugh of Johns Hopkins University will develop interoperable Python-based software modules to simulate scale-dependent glycosylation profiles in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture. The platform will help manufacturers predict how fluid movement in bioreactors of various scales impact product quality. The platform will help NIIMBL partners build digital twins, accelerate process development, validate glycosylation robustness, and inform scale-up decisions.