Who we are
BMIG is an initiative of the Office of Research and Innovation (ORI) and the Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center (BTEC) at NC State University. Established in the spring of 2020, the BMIG brings together regional specialists in biopharmaceutical manufacturing to provide students, post-docs, researchers, and scientists valuable networking opportunities to share and gain knowledge and expertise.
What is BMIG’s role?
The Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Interest Group intends to serve as a networking platform that will foster collaborations, nurture long-term partnerships, identify new investigators and relationships, and disseminate sponsoring opportunities via contracts and grants. The BMIG will also enable the exchange of knowledge and expertise and help establish research groups, teams, and investigators in the field of biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The BMIG will act as an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional group comprising faculty, researchers, scientists, postdocs, and students from universities. It will serve as a link to other organizations such as the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBC), NC Biosciences Organization (NCBIO), industrial concerns, and national laboratories.
What are biopharmaceuticals?
Biopharmaceuticals are medicines produced from biological sources. They include existing products such as large-molecule drugs produced from biological sources, including protein therapeutics, such as antibodies, protein fragments, protein drug conjugates, and vaccines, as well as emerging products such as oligonucleotides, and other gene and cell therapies.
What is biopharmaceutical manufacturing?
Biopharmaceutical manufacturing comprises the production of protein therapeutics, vaccines, gene therapies and cell therapies. Steps required to manufacture a biopharmaceutical include cell banking, cell culture or fermentation for production of product, isolation and purification of the product, product formulation, and fill-finish. Numerous analytical tests are also performed throughout the process, on both process intermediates and drug product. In addition, by the time a biopharmaceutical product is commercialized, significant effort has been spent developing the cell line used for production, designing the process, and developing the analytical methods for routine testing. Specific areas such as Big Data analysis, novel materials, multivariate sensors, bioprocess modeling and simulation and process control that support various biopharmaceutical manufacturing operations are of interest.
Who can be a member of the BMIG?
We welcome everyone from the scientific community, faculty members, researchers, scientists, post-docs, students, and industry partners with a broad interest in BMIG activities. These include the following:
- Developing and advancing novel solutions to existing and emerging problems in biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
- Developing new technologies and equipment for scalable, reliable and repeatable, high throughput processes and advanced analytics required for biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
- Educating a new cadre of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and training incumbent workers to meet the needs of biopharmaceutical manufacturing industries.