04.18.26 -- Cutting Costs, Timelines, And Downstream Bottlenecks

Hello and happy Saturday! This weekend’s editorial focus is on reducing COGs in bioprocessing. If you ask our panelists from this recent Bioprocess Online Live event, they’ll tell you it starts with coordinated development between upstream and downstream. After all, reducing costs is about optimizing the entire process, not just certain steps.

That being said, some processing steps are more costly than others (looking at you, Protein A chromatography). That’s why researchers like Julia Solonenka, a Ph.D. candidate in plant biotechnology at the Queensland University of Technology, are exploring ways to reduce downstream bottlenecks. Her team’s work on co-expression strategies in plant-based systems aims to replace traditional, expensive chromatography with a non-chromatographic "one-pot" approach.

When it comes to COGs in manufacturing, cell therapies face an uphill battle. In this episode of “Better Biopharma,” I talk to Michael McCullar, Ph.D., CEO at RegCell, about the ongoing effort to improve the commercial viability of these therapies by reducing manufacturing costs through automation and point-of-care models.

Enjoy your weekend, but first, be sure to check out some selected content from our partners below!

Tyler Menichiello               
Chief Editor, Bioprocess Online

Emulate reveals human-relevant intestinal models that uncover leaky-gut mechanisms, cytokine signaling, and mechanical forces. (More)

Mad City Labs explores quantum biosensing to enable earlier disease detection through real-time, nanoscale biological insight. (More)

Nu-Tek Biosciences demonstrates how animal-free inputs deliver dependable lot-to-lot consistency for reproducible bioprocessing. (More)

AGC Biologics breaks down CGT outsourcing fundamentals, helping emerging teams accelerate development, reduce risk, and scale smarter. (More)

ValGenesis is leading life sciences teams to unify CQV to cut audit risk, accelerate timelines, and stay inspection-ready. (More)

QIAGEN delivers a faster, standardized path to safeguarding lentiviral therapies—see how sensitive digital PCR reduces release timelines. (More)

TSI Incorporated shows how pharmaceutical manufacturers are using AI to shift cleanrooms from reactive compliance to predictive control. (More)