New Biochemical Engineering Lab at Villanova University
Dan Tantino 02

The fall semester marked the opening of a new biochemical engineering lab at Villanova’s White Hall. State-of-the-art Biotechnology research is currently underway in the facility, under the direction of Dr. William J. Kelly, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering. With the support of the Chemical Engineering Department Chair, Dr. C. Michael Kelly and the acting Dean of Engineering, Edward McAssey, Dr. W. Kelly worked with the VU Facilities department to design the facility and with local pharmaceutical companies to obtain equipment donations for the facility.

The new facility contains a wide variety of modern bioprocessing equipment, all of which has been donated by local pharmaceutical companies. At the heart of the lab is a set of three 20-liter steam-in-place NBS fermentors donated by Merck that are perfectly suited for research-scale bio-processing. Mark Baranouski, a Merck representative on hand at White Hall said, “Because Merck operates with a much higher volume, larger machines are used. We’re happy that instead of being wasted in storage, these smaller units can be put to good use at Villanova.”

Dr. William Kelly explained the importance of these new fermentors in the new lab. “They are being used to grow e.coli bacteria to produce DNA plasmids. Plasmids are potential carriers for gene therapy products, but because of their large size, they may be destroyed by shear forces in bio-processing equipment (i.e. centrifuges, pumps and homogenizers). The new fermentors generate enough cells to study how the operation and reconfiguration of bio-processing equipment can reduce shear damage to DNA plasmids.”

Kelly is excited to work with students in the new lab because he understands the growing importance of biological processes to the profession of  chemical engineering. He said, “Many pharmaceutical companies produce ‘natural’ products, which are made by living organisms. Vaccines, some antibiotics and more recently monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy products are examples of such natural products.”

The new biochemical engineering lab provides valuable opportunities for Villanova’s chemical engineers to gain experience with modern Bio-processing equipment. Because of this opportunity, Villanova’s Chemical Engineering graduates will be well prepared to solve the current and future challenges confronting the Biotechnology industry.