Name:
BPI Recap 2025
Description:
BPI Recap 2025
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T00H09M25S
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Upload Date:
2025-09-18T00:00:00.0000000
Transcript:
Language: EN.
Segment:0 .
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Hello, everyone. I'm Julianna LeMieux, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at GEN. And I'm coming to you today with John Sterling, the Editor-in-Chief at GEN from Boston and the Bioprocessing International Meeting 2025. It's the first full day. We've had a great one. So, John, we're going to tell everyone a little bit about what we're hearing about. How was your day today?
JOHN STERLING: Well, thank you for the great introduction. It's been busy all morning and most of the afternoon. I've been coming to a lot of these. And each year, there are more things to talk about, more people coming, and a whole bunch of different technologies. Today, for example, robotics is a huge trend in biotech. And the first session I went to was robotics for early-stage biopharma development, not late stage, early in the game. Right after drug discovery, robots are going right in.
JOHN STERLING: And another session I went to was cell culture media for intensified bioprocessing to improve productivity has to do with cell culture and cells. And, Julianna, I think you went to a session on that.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yes, so I spent several hours in one session all on cell line development. I love going to the cell line development. But to your point about how there's more and more every year, I mean, it's like you have to choose one track. But you want to do that track, but then you're missing, say, downstream processing or something. So I had a hard time choosing. But anyway, I chose cell line development.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And it was an entire session on CHO cells, three different talks, all on CHO cells. So the first one was by Bhanu Chandra Mulukutla from Pfizer. And he talked about this really interesting problem that they're working with in the CHO cells about this lactate shift where the CHO cells produce these byproducts. Several of the talks used genomics, whether it was RNA seq or other omics, technologies, which you know is something near and dear to my heart.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And they identified this key player, this gene TXNIP. And then they learned how they could control it with amino acid levels. But you can't do that when you're growing for bioprocessing. So then they use genetic engineering. So it's like it's really amazing to talk about how Pfizer is working on development of CHO cells so that it can be used.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And then I heard from an academic from University of Delaware-- oh, the other thing actually about the CHO cells, going back to Pfizer for a second, is that they use these cells where they weren't using cysteine or tyrosine. And they called them Cystyr.
JOHN STERLING: Cystyr?
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Like, Cystyr CHO but like C-Y-S-T-Y-R. So I thought that was like science humor. It was good. And then we heard from an academic from University of Delaware, Mark Blenner, who did more kind of the gene expression of CHO cells. And then lastly, heard from Mike Johns from MilliporeSigma. And actually, I didn't know going into it. But they're launching a new product called Chosen Elite Cell Line.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: So he showed a lot of data on this new cell line, which is coming out really today. This was the first mention of it. Yeah, I mean go check out their website if you're interested in that. MilliporeSigma, yeah.
JOHN STERLING: As you can see, Julianna has become our cell line development specialist.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: CHO cells.
JOHN STERLING: CHO cells are like the workhorse of mammalian biotech production.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: It's so interesting how many different facets there are.
JOHN STERLING: Oh, yeah. There's a number of different sessions on this.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Oh, yeah, there's other sessions.
JOHN STERLING: Well, I didn't focus on one. I just flitted through and listened to six or seven different ones.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: That was good.
JOHN STERLING: I went into a session where they were talking about using size exclusion chromatography and mass spec for real-time antibody drug conjugation monitoring. ADCs, they're called, and one of the newest biotech drugs that hold a lot of promise. And there's an awful lot of work being done on those because it's still early. And there are a number of sessions here to talk about that.
JOHN STERLING: There's also an entire session on industrializing AI for GMP production. Now, GMP production is what you need to use to get your product approved by the FDA. AI is still very early in the game. And its use in biotech. It's used widely from drug discovery, all the way through bioprocessing. But it needs to be really refined and fine-tuned so that it can meet the levels, which the FDA requires for good manufacturing production.
JOHN STERLING: I was also impressed by the large Asian biotech contingent that's at this meeting. It seems like there were more companies here than last year. And a number of them are looking to set up shop here in the United States, which is interesting because right now, Asia, especially China, is on fire in terms of biotech development and product production. Julianna.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Well, I actually started my morning with a talk. It was in the keynote plenary session that I think is absolutely worth mentioning for a moment. The story, it was given by Tracy Ryan, who's the Co-Founder and Chief Communications Officer at NKore BioTherapeutics, sorry, NK, like NK cells because they harness NK immune cells, Natural Killer immune cells as a treatment for cancer. But her story is a great one, where-- first of all, I liked it because it was focused on patients.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: So the company says patients first. And in fact, she started the company with others because her daughter, at eight months old, was diagnosed with cancer and really had very, very limited options. And so they started the company. And the idea moving away from genetic therapies, like N-of-1, they are developing allogeneic therapies. Two people have been dosed in solid and blood tumors.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And so her daughter's name is Sophie Ryan. And there's a website savingsophie.org that tells the story and also is raising money because these therapies are so expensive. So what an important and impactful story that was just full of hope. And she was just a terrific speaker and, I think, a great way to kick off the meeting, you know?
JOHN STERLING: Yeah.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Because we get so into the technology here. But it's so important to remember that the whole reason why anyone's doing this is for the patients. And I think that that's what that first talk really set the tone.
JOHN STERLING: Actually, talking to the companies here and reading the intros to what they're talking about, their descriptions, there's this ongoing theme of improving technology for productivity and getting products to market. But as Julianna says, and you really get a sense of this, that a lot of what they're doing-- and they say this in their releases and face to face, that they not so much want to get to products just for products sake, but it's to help patients get healthy and live better lives.
JOHN STERLING: It's almost a talking point if you come for the industry, which I think is really smart because a lot of these things are really technical. And they range from everything from drug discovery, through very complicated bioproduction methods, to analytical methodologies. And you lose sometimes what this is all about. And as Julianna heard in the first talk and as I heard from a number of people today, it's all about getting the product to a patient as soon as possible.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And that was just day one. [LAUGHS] And we're here for an entire full day tomorrow, John. I'm not sure if you know where you're headed tomorrow. But I think we're just going to be doing a lot more of the same. And now, tonight we should say is the big networking night in the Expo Hall. So really looking forward. The Expo Hall just opened this afternoon. So really, I know we're both looking forward to going down there, talking to the companies, learning about some of the new technologies and tools that are being presented at the meeting.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: And then tomorrow full day again. And then tomorrow night, we should mention, Jen is having-- I don't if you got one of these very beautiful--
JOHN STERLING: Yes, I did.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: --invites for the client appreciation party at Del Frisco's, so I'm looking forward to that. That's something we haven't done in a long time. So that's going to be great.
JOHN STERLING: And when you meet people one on one, their exuberance, their dedication--
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yeah, passion.
JOHN STERLING: --the passion that they express when you talk to them, it's almost overwhelming once you get them going on something. And that's very reassuring to me that, yeah, again, it's a business, but these people are out to do good. And there isn't anything wrong with that. We want to see more of that. And we'll see that tomorrow. So that's all I have to say.
JULIANNA LEMIEUX: Yeah, thanks for tuning in. And we'll bring you more from BPI, in our newsletter, on our website, and everywhere else. Thanks again. [MUSIC PLAYING]