The History of Bioprocessing Part 2

We recently looked into the ancient history of bioprocessing, to establish that a lot of the foundations of modern biotechnology were stumbled upon accidentally, while people were trying to brew beer, ferment wine or bake bread.

We now enter the modern history of bioprocessing which began in 1928, as Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered antibiotics, when he noticed mould contaminating a petri dish caused bacterial death. This led him to postulate that the mould was secreting an antibacterial substance, which would become the world’s first broadly effective antibiotic.

He named it Penicillin, which has a catchier ring to it than “Accidentalin”.

The end of the history of bioprocessing by accident

This marked the end of the time in the history of bioprocessing when bio-progress was made by accident. From here on in, the search for new antibacterial compounds became deliberate and systematic.

The 1940s:

During WW2, the Allied governments put incentives in place to encourage the cost-effective manufacture and mass-production of penicillin. Suitably motivated, Ernst Chain, Howard Florey and Edward Abraham succeeded in purifying the first antibiotic, known as Penicillin G (aka Benzylpenicillin) in 1942.

Purified penicillin worked quickly and effectively and had low toxicity in humans. For their successful development of Penicillin G, Chain, Florey shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Fleming.

It has been said that the discoveries of these three men, combined, have saved over 200 million lives!

The modern history of bioprocessing

The mass manufacture of penicillin required the development of new technologies, such as fermenters (aka bioreactors) and the rest of the associated infrastructure – tanks, impellers, pumps, compressors, columns, pipes, and valves. In 1944 De Beeze and Liebmann used the first large scale bioreactor – 20 litres – for the production of yeast.

The 1950s:

The first human cells were successfully cloned at the University of Colorado in 1953.  Since then, they have been employed for research into cancer, AIDS, virology, the effects of radiation and toxins, gene-mapping, and more. 

Jonas Salk used HeLa cells in 1955 to test the first polio vaccine.

In 1953, Crick and Watson published a joint paper in Nature where they demonstrated the Double Helix structure of DNA. They are often, erroneously, credited with having discovered DNA – but they didn’t, DNA had been identified almost a century before. Their great breakthrough was in establishing the double-helical structure of the DNA molecule.

This resulted in them sharing a 1962 Nobel Prize with Maurice Wilkins.

The 1970s:

The term ‘Genetic Engineering’ was coined by the science fiction writer, Jack Williamson in 1951 – shortly before Crick and Watson revealed their double helix.  But, it was in the 70s that the concept of genetic engineering began to enter the public consciousness.

In 1972, Paul Berg created the first recombinant DNA molecules (and would go on to win the Nobel for his troubles). In 1973 Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen successfully created the first transgenic organism by transplanting genes from one living organism to another.

A year later, Rudolf Jaenisch, at MIT, created the first ever transgenic animal – a mouse.

In 1978, the world’s first genetic engineering company – Genentech – announced the production of genetically engineered human insulin.  The first commercially available biosynthetic human insulin hit the market in 1982 under the name Humulin.

Bioprocessing at scale was, for the first time, needed to deliver this crucial human insulin to market.

The recent history of bioprocessing

The 1990s:

The first single-use bags were used.  The benefits of these bags were understood and appreciated immediately. They remove the cost and time needed for cleaning and sterilising reusable primary containers and, at the same time, they reduce the danger of cross-contamination.

The Human Genome Project was launched in 1990.

Then, in 1993, Jurassic Park opened its doors for the first time – with all of those genetically engineered transgenic dinosaurs. They spared no expense. Never-the-less, it’s fair to say it didn’t go well. (Are you drunk? – Editor)

2003: 

The Human Genome Project was completed. It was the world’s largest collaborative biology project. Originally budgeted at $3 billion and expected to take 15 years, the work was undertaken by Geneticists in the US, the UK, France, Australia and China. Thanks to this collaboration, the project was delivered two years early and about $300 million under budget.

2009: 

Phill Allen and the team at ALLpaQ developed the first all-plastic secondary bioprocess container. And the rest, as they say, is history!

The original all-plastic ALLpaQ bioprocess containment solution is the now legendary Genesis Shipping Container. You can read all about that here.

The future of bioprocessing

So, 2019 came and went and there were no Nexus 6 Replicants in the streets being chased by Blade Runners. Disappointing. But, what does the future of bioprocessing hold for us?

Bioprocesses 4.0 is part of ‘Industry 4.0’, which is the trending name for The Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is all about the evolution of the technology used in industry, as manufacturing is transformed by interconnectivity and smart machines.

No, sorry, this doesn’t mean self-aware computers and Terminators, this means the use of intelligent automation, robotics, machine learning, big data analytics, and the Internet of Things to help speed up, streamline and improve the research, design, production and mass manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

Pharma is also developing on the submicroscopic or nanoscale. Bionanotechnology developments that are going to be coming on-stream in the very near future include stem cells, gene therapy, functional foods, edible vaccines and biosensors are on the horizon for biotechnology.

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ALLpaQ

Packaging

ALLpaQ is the market leader in the design of innovative pharma containers and fluid management solutions.

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