We are pleased to present an AIBN student and staff member to share their latest research.
Date: Thursday, 10 March
Time: 12 - 1pm
Venue: Online Via Zoom
Click here to access the free seminar
Need for bleed – avoiding death in Chinese Hamster Ovary cell perfusion cultures and understanding the impact
Mr Matthias Noebel, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, UQ.
As the world population continues to grow and age, access to medical therapies, like therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb), increases in importance. Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells are the dominant expression platform for biopharmaceutical production, such as mAb. Driven by higher volumetric productivities, shorter residence time of products and the drive towards an end-to-end continuous process, industry is shifting from traditional fed-batch processes towards perfusion cultures.
Besides their popularity, detailed metabolic knowledge is still lacking. This particularly true for the conditions encountered in perfusion cultures.
Analysing a specifically for perfusion processes genetically engineered, death resistant cell line, we aim to establish a systems biology approach to better understand the CHO cell metabolism. Alterations between metabolic profiles of different cell lines can then be identified, understood and utilized to reverse engineer variations by using genetic engineering approaches or media design and process optimization.
Here, we will give an overview of the project and present first results generated.
About Matthias:
Prior to joining AIBN in 2018, Matthias completed his Master’s degree in Biotechnology at Lund University, Sweden and his undergraduate in Molecular and Applied Biotechnology at the RWTH Aachen in Germany. Additionally, he spent time at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, located in the US.
Synthetic genes: the Swiss army knives of genomics research
Dr Helen Gunter, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, UQ
Engineered synthetic genes provide flexible, powerful tools to improve human health. Here we describe the design and validation of a range of synthetic gene constructs with applications in multi-omics, cancer diagnostics and mRNA vaccine development. First, we describe the design of a synthetic genome that corrects errors in DNA sequencing. As it can also be transcribed and translated for use as a spike-in in RNA-seq and proteomics experiments, it the first truly multi-omics sequencing control. Second, we describe custom sequencing adaptors with in-built error correction capacity, with applications including cancer diagnostic sequencing. Our custom adapters lead to the diagnosis of a clinically relevant variant in a cancer patient that would have otherwise been missed. Last, we describe a set of golden gate constructs, designed to improve the stability and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines. The constructs enable the rapid testing of individual gene components (such as 5’ and 3’ UTRs), which have the potential to impact vaccine stability, translation, and ultimately, immune response. Collectively, our results demonstrate the power of synthetic genes to intersect a broad range of research and clinical applications.
About Helen:
Dr Helen Gunter joined AIBN in 2021 as manager for the research group lead by Associate Professor Tim Mercer. Dr Helen Gunter leads the development of novel synthetic DNA/RNA design and technologies, and their clinical application in human health.
About AIBN Seminar Series
The AIBN Seminar series showcases a range of seminars across different topics and disciplines