Bioprocessing Students and Faculty Connect with Industry Leaders at Annual Conference

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CLAREMONT, CA – In a collaborative environment filled with networking opportunities, Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) hosted the Industry Insights Bioprocessing Conference “Bioprocessing for Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products” along with KGI’s Annual Amgen Bioprocessing Center Advisory Board Meeting on November 7-8.

KGI hosted the two-day event in collaboration with IPS-Integrated Project Services, LLC (IPS) and INTERPHEX.

“We thoroughly enjoyed sharing knowledge with industry experts and leading suppliers who are on the cutting edge within the field of bioprocessing,” said Sue Behrens, George B. and Joy Rathmann Professor and Director of the Amgen Bioprocessing Center at KGI.

“It was a great opportunity to showcase the tremendous work of our master’s and PhD students.”

Mary Malloney of Juno Therapeutics, Joe Newell from Atara Biotherapeutics, and Rajesh Krishnan of Oncternal shared presentations about bioprocessing and engineering processes in the area of advanced therapeutic medicinal products.

This conference was chaired by Dr. Vic Vinci, Vice President of Product Development at Catalent Biologics. KGI students delivered insightful presentations on stem cell research, considerations for drug product development for cell therapy products, and other current research activities.

David Kent, a second-year Master of Engineering in Biopharmaceutical Processing student, was one of the presenters on Nov. 8. He first came to KGI through the Bioprocessing Summer Undergraduate Internship Training and Education (BSUITE) program, and stayed on to pursue his MEng degree.

“I want to impact patient lives and understand the current limitations of getting affordable life-changing medicines to patients around the world,” said Kent. “I was introduced to cell therapy during BSUITE, and this past summer I was able to take my first step into this world during an internship at Amgen. I am eager to take my continued education back to industry to start helping patient lives.”