Organon enters research accord with NIBRT

The Irish National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) and Organon, the human health care business of Netherlands-based Akzo Nobel, have announced the formation of a research collaboration which will focus on the control and understanding of glycosylation in CHO cell culture. The accord is designed to combine NIBRT's academic resources with the existing manufacturing know-how of Organon to improve the control of the cell culture process.

"This collaboration reinforces the strong commitment at Organon to R&D and alliances to expand and improve our biopharmaceutical franchise," stated David Nicholson, executive vice president R&D at the firm. "NIBRT's unique focus on bioprocessing and its links to world-class researchers in Irish Universities complements our own biotechnology R&D capabilities and should provide both parties with new insights into the biosynthetic mechanisms in cell cultures and ways to control them," he added.

The research program will study the regulation and expression of those enzymes active in cell cultures which are highly relevant for their role in glycosylation. Using a combination of systems biology modelling and experimental validation in vitro, key optimization data will be generated under the deal which will advance the understanding of glycosylation-related enzyme expression, regulation and action in production systems.