Process Simulation Eye Opener Impresses

We hear a lot about 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing), artificial intelligence, machine learning and supercomputers in reference to the tech industry but I don’t tend to associate those concepts with our biotech and life sciences industry. My assumptions were proven wrong after attending the ISPE Boston Area Chapter’s event on process modeling where Zheng Huang of Sanofi and Niranjan Kulkarni of CRB shared their knowledge, experiences and passion for these topics, with real examples of their application in biotech.

Zheng opened with an explanation of 3D printing, his personal 3D printer (a 3D printer made of 3D printed parts!), how he’s used 3D printing at home in his carpentry workshop and, finally, with several examples of 3D printed prototypes and manufacturing equipment used in process development at Sanofi. From fully custom, single-use bioreactor shells, impellers, and components for lab equipment, he showed how having additive manufacturing capabilities at a site can be a platform for rapid iterative improvement, employee engagement and an empowered workforce able to produce their own hardware ideas.

Niranjan then took Zheng’s concepts of scaled-down models and rapid iterative learning and expanded them to a facility-wide scale. Much of Niranjan’s work at CRB focuses on the use of machine learning and neural networks to model complex processes at a large scale. We were provided with a brief primer on neural networks (the concept goes all the way back to the 1940s) and then shown a real example of using machine learning to model capacity of personnel and materials moving through a cell therapy facility. The output of the capacity study was then linked to a three dimensional animation of the various models so that end users could identify under what conditions and in what facility locations backups would occur.

Both speakers were clearly passionate about their areas of work and shared that passion with the evening’s broad audience, from those with no modeling experience (me) to those with deep expertise who were able to share and learn best practices from both Zheng and Niranjan. Several fellow attendees were pleasantly surprised to learn the applicability of these concepts to life sciences and even the A/V tech who filmed the session was fascinated by the application of these concepts. A big thank you to the Chapter for a topic that definitely fell into the category of “things I didn’t realize were applicable to life sciences” and to our sponsors ICQ Consultants and DPS Group.