North Carolina State University (NC State) in the United States and DTU have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening education and research opportunities in biotechnology.
NC State and DTU already work closely together on developing biotechnological solutions. The new agreement intensifies the exchange of students and researchers between the two universities, including through new continuing education opportunities and greater collaboration with DTU's new part-time MSc programme in Biomanufacturing in Kalundborg. Here, highly qualified engineers are educated to run the complicated processes contained in a bio-based production.
NC State is located in the southeastern part of the United States, in the so-called 'Research Triangle Park', one of the largest and fastest growing markets in biotechnology and life science in the United States. Here you will find a number of leading life science companies such as American GlaxoSmithKline, Biogen Idec, Merck, and Pfizer, as well as Danish Novozymes and Novo Nordisk.
"NC State has a strong biotech profile, just like DTU, and we're working together on an increasing number of projects. In addition, there are strong Danish corporate interests in the area around NC State. By linking DTU's strong Danish biotech environment with the US counterpart, I believe that we can develop innovative biotechnological solutions with global impact and give DTU's researchers and students an even greater international outlook," says DTU Senior Vice President Carsten Orth Gaarn-Larsen.
Growing demand for pharmaceuticals
The international research and education programme Accelerated Innovation in Manufacturing Biologics (AIM-Bio) is an example of an existing collaboration between DTU and NC State.
The programme is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation with DKK 182.7 million and focuses on creating new bio-industrial processes based on biotechnology—and on developing study programmes for students and staff in the industry.
Today, the biopharmaceutical industry accounts for the main part of the global production of pharmaceuticals such as insulin or antibodies that help save and improve lives worldwide. But the industry is in a crucial phase. Increasing demand for pharmaceuticals requires larger and more efficient production of existing products, combined with a need for safe, cost-effective production processes for new pharmaceuticals.
The AIM-Bio programme involves researchers from NC State, DTU Chemical Engineering, and DTU Bioengineering. One of them is DTU Professor John Woodley, who works with therapeutic protein production using yeast and the subsequent purification.
"The biopharmaceutical industry is a complicated sector and one of the challenges is that the purification process for producing biopharmaceutical products is expensive. There is also a need to develop sustainable solutions for reducing water consumption in production and to find new up-scalable production processes.This can help make the pharmaceuticals more accessible to those who need them," says John Woodley.
He points out that the further development of the industry requires both innovation and highly-qualified employees. With the AIM-Bio programme, DTU and NC State will therefore promote the exchange of Danish and American lecturers, researchers, and students—in terms of research projects, preparation of continuing education programmes, and teaching.
