“MembraneWorks: Membrane Chromatography Systems for Purification of Biologics,” a new NC State research program, is one of six projects selected for funding by the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund in 2024. Research partners Ruben Carbonell and Behnam Pourdeyhimi, in collaboration with Cristiana Boi, Jinxin Fan and Joseph Lavoie, make up the MembraneWorks project team.
The project is developing an innovative new technology to replace resin column chromatography for product capture and purification with novel, disposable nonwoven membranes. This new technology — which works in applications from product capture to polishing — offers many advantages, including reduced cost, increased productivity, scalability and reduced processing steps. In contrast, traditional resin-based chromatography has many process steps, low productivity and high cost. It also requires cleaning/sanitization and high levels of water and energy usage.
NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson established the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund (CIF) in 2010 to enable commercialization of research conducted at NC State University. CIF award winners have one year to spend the funding, and during this time they receive support from the Office of Research Commercialization, which includes intellectual property lawyers, business experts and others to make sure the research group has the support needed to be successful.
The MembraneWorks team will use the CIF funding to address two barriers to commercialization of its innovative technology. The project will demonstrate the scalability of the process for batch membrane manufacturing and develop a membrane holder that is easy to scale up to handle large batches of product.
Given the projected compounded annual growth rate of 14.8% for the biologics market, this technology could provide significant benefits to support an industry that is anticipated to reach $1.42 trillion by 2032.
MembraneWorks Research Team
Ruben Carbonell
Frank Hawkins Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, NC State University, and Senior Technology Strategist, National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals
Behnam Pourdeyhimi
Executive Director, Nonwovens Institute; Associate Dean, College of Textiles, and William A. Klopman Distinguished Professor of Materials, NC State University
Cristiana Boi
Associate Research Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University; Associate Professor, Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy
Jinxin Fan
Research Scholar, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, NC State University
Joseph Lavoie
Sr. Scientist, Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center, NC State University