A German automated laboratory may herald the future of less expensive pharmaceutical drugs thanks to the latest developments in computer-controlled robotics and bioinformatics.
Scientists at the KIWI-biolab at the Technical University (TU) of Berlin, designated as one of three international artificial intelligence (AI) future laboratories by the German government, say the self-driving lab can develop processes for new biomolecules in a fully automated way.
“Developing pharmaceutical drugs remains very lengthy even when companies have developed platform processes,” explains Peter Neubauer, PhD, professor of bioprocess engineering at TU Berlin. “We need to change this and, key to that, are fully automated, self-driving laboratories.”
Neubauer says the biolab works on microbes, such as E. coli, and includes robot-connected bioreactors of ten to 100 mL. Process validation, meanwhile, is performed in bioreactors of up to 100 L. He notes that developments in bioinformatics, including modeling and AI, combined with lab automation and analytics, have made fully automated self-driving laboratories increasingly possible.
However, challenges have remained for pharmaceutical companies when compared to automating the chemicals industry, as biological systems are very sensitive to their environment.
“What we’re aiming to do is develop intelligent laboratory tools that can make decisions dependent on what’s happening in the process,” he says. “And that’s a big challenge because analytics, normally, in a standard laboratory, takes a lot of time.”
Neubauer and the team believe the solution includes integrating new spectroscopic methods, such as Raman spectroscopy, along with very fast models to make real-time decisions in a matter of minutes. He explains that developing new analytics on microbial systems is a great model for companies working with mammalian cells, as a batch run with E. coli can last only 24 hours, whereas a production batch with Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells can take weeks.
“If we want to control such a process, on many different factors, we have to be extremely fast in our analyses,” he says. “And it’s not just one process either—normally we’re running 24 to 48 processes in parallel and that means the analysis and control have to be multiplied and orchestrated across many systems.”
The team now hopes to move on to using gold-standard analytics with the robots, such as High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Mass Spectrometry (MS), along with decision-making tools to prioritize and sequence sample taking among the 48 bioreactors.
In addition, Der Simulierte Mensch (Si-M), The Simulated Human, a new research center, is being finalized in Berlin to open in 2026. Neubauer explains this is a joint partnership between TU Berlin and a charity that will focus on organoid cultures.
“We have lots of requests from pharmaceutical companies and want to prove the strength of our technology, also for cell culture processes,” he tells GEN.
The post Automated Lab of the Future May Herald Lower-Cost Therapies appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
