BRI Bioprocess Plant Tour

• TOUR #1: Thursday, October 26, 4pm - 5:30 pm (50 maximum) - THURSDAY TOUR IS NOW FULLY BOOKED.
• TOUR #2: Friday, October 27, 9am - 10:30am (50 maximum)
  
  

The Biotechnology Research Institute of the National Research Council Canada (NRC-BRI) offers a tour of its Pilot Plant for Bioprocessing. The Pilot Plant is the largest facility of its kind in Canada, which has computer-controlled fermenters of different sizes ranging from 3.5 L to 1500 L. The Pilot Plant also includes a wide range of analytical equipment and instruments for supporting its fermentation and downstream processing.

The Tour will include an initial introduction to BRI and 6 station visits:

Station 1: Pilot Plant (Microbial Cells)
Visit of the Pilot Plant (1500 L fermentor platform, 12 X 14 L bioreactors used for process development, equipment for primary recovery, cell breakage and initial product capture) (15 minutes)

Station 2: Downstream Processing
Separation and Purification of Bioproducts (filtration techniques, chromatography techniques and various systems, protein characterization and analyses) (15 minutes)

Station 3: Pilot Plant (Animal cells)
Bio-Safety Level 2 viral vector production facility (up to 100 L) to support gene therapy research (15 minute)

Station 4: Analytical and Lab Scale Production (Animal cells)
Small-scale Bio-Safety Level 2 laboratories (analyses and production), baculovirus/insect cells systems for recombinant protein production, perfusion mode mammalian cell culture (15 minutes)

Station 5: R&D Expression Systems
Research activities: Development of methylotrophic bacterium (M. extorquens) as a new prokaryotic expression system (10 minutes)

Station 6: R&D Enzymology
Research activities: Use of hydrolases in non-aqueous reactions, in condensation reactions, in combination with enzyme production, purification and characterization (10 minutes)