NPLK24001U Biological Production Hosts: Bench to Pilot Scale
MSc Programme in Biosolutions
The aim of the course is to educate students in different engineered host organisms and production hosts. Likewise, how a process developed in the lab can be scaled up to industrial manufacturing.
A key step in biosolutions is the choice of microorganism – the host system for production, and afterwards to understand the challenges of scaling up from lab-scale to industrial scale.
The teaching will partly be based on industrial case studies. The goal is for students to gain a theoretical understanding of how the choice of host organisms and lab-based processes can be translated into a full manufacturing scale process for sustainable and efficient production of recombinant proteins, peptides and metabolites.
The teaching will partly be based on industrial case studies.
The goal is for students to gain an in-depth understanding of how
lab-based processes can be translated into a full manufacturing
scale process for sustainable and efficient production of
recombinant proteins, peptides and metabolites.
Topics that will be covered in the
course:
- Choice of a host organism e.g.:
- Copy number, promoter strength and induction
- Expression vectors
- Stability of the product e.g.
- Secretion of proteins and signal trapping
- Post-translational modifications in different host organisms
- Expression of toxic proteins
- Optimization of expression level and Fermentation parameters
In the course, focus will be on a range of different
industrially relevant production hosts, such as
- Escherichia coli
- Bacillus
- Saccharomyces
- Pichia
- Aspergillus
After completing the course, the student should have acquired
the following:
Knowledge:
- Describe the main features of industrially relevant production hosts such as E.coli, Bacillus, S.cerevisiae, P.pastoris, Aspergillus, including cell biology and physiology
- Describe important parameters for production hosts such as: Expression levels, Type of post-translational modifications, Mechanisms for secretion of the product, Stability of the product, Stability of the transformed expression host, Strategies for optimization of the expression level and quality of the product.
Skills:
- Devise changes to expression hosts to optimise the production of a desired product.
- Calculation of mass balances and cost-efficiency
- Identify and trouble-shoot problems during fermentations
Competences:
- Transfer theory and principles regarding the usefulness of different organisms as expression hosts for different products.
- Analyze and evaluate if a certain organism is suitable for a specific production.
- Suggest improvement on an organism or a fermentation parameter that will impact the fermentation production/product
- Ability to design a fermentation strategy for a given product (incl monitoring)
Digitalization
- Bioinformatic information is found by searching in public databases such as (NCBI, UniProt and TAIR)
- Analysis of experimental data.
- Calculation of fermentation mass balances based on experimental data.
The course is based on:
- Selected reviews
- Scientific papers for presentation and discussion
Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree is recommended.
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 24
- Preparation
- 109
- Theory exercises
- 32
- Excursions
- 8
- Study Groups
- 32
- Exam
- 1
- Total
- 206
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Oral examination, 20 minutes (no preparation)
- Type of assessment details
- The exam starts off with discussing one of the theoretical cases. It is important to demonstrate an overview of the topics that have been covered and to discuss this using examples from the entire curriculum. We expect you to be able to compare the different production hosts and fermentation strategies.
- Exam registration requirements
Handing in of the power point presentation together with a one page summary of the power point presentation including the input from class discussion.
- Aid
- Only certain aids allowed
Reports from cases, student presentations and notes.
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
Several internal examiners
- Re-exam
Same as the ordinary exam.
If the requirements isn't met, the student need to hand in a power point presentation of a given topic together with a one page summary of the power point presentation 3 weeks before the reexam.
Criteria for exam assesment
See Learning outcome
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- NPLK24001U
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
- 1 block
- Placement
- Block 2
- Schedule
- CThe course is taught in Kalundborg
- Course capacity
- 50
The number of places might be reduced if you register in the late-registration period (BSc and MSc) or as a credit or single subject student.
Study board
- Study Board for the Biological Area
Contracting departments
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
- Department of Food Science
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Science
Course Coordinators
- Nicolai Tidemand Johansen (nicolai.johansen@plen.ku.dk)
Lecturers
Co responsible - Henriette Lyng Røder
Several lecturers from PLEN and FOOD