Why attend?

For Office", The objective of the workshop is to engage the modeling community, share best practices and drive inspiration for solving the scientific-engineering challenges we are facing. The focus of the workshop will be on Bioprocess Modeling at various scales, from biophysical models at a molecular level up to large scale facility and plant modeling. This workshop provides a great opportunity to discuss the current state and future of modeling in the biopharmaceutical industry.

We are striving at creating an exciting 2-day program with oral and poster presentations, keynote talks and roundtable discussions in the beautiful and comfortable environment of Favrholm, where accommodation will be offered and all activities will take place.

Biophysics and Molecular Modeling

Biophysical modeling at the molecular level has the potential to accelerate and direct the early molecule design phase in the biopharmaceutical industry. Predictions of molecular and biophysical properties of molecules in silico may replace experiments and reduce the number of potential candidates needed in the experimental screening phase. Furthermore, incorporating factors and learnings affecting the downstream processes early in the molecule design phase may help to select the lead candidate with optimal developability and manufacturability potential saving time and resources in development and manufacturing. In this session, we invite abstracts focusing on biophysics and molecular modeling tools and concepts applied in the early research and discovery stages that may also relate to process outcomes. How can modeling be utilized to narrow the experimental space in the variant screening phase and to accelerate timelines towards lead candidate selection and perhaps also beyond in development and manufacturing?

Keywords: biophysical properties, molecule design, developability, manufacturability

Mechanistic Modeling

Mechanistic modeling applies physical fundamentals (first principles) at the unit-operation scale to generate process understanding. Model parameters are often obtained from high-throughput experiments. These models are typically applied in the industrial context across all stages of development as well as to full-scale manufacturing. This session will address industrial challenges and use cases of applied unit operation modeling for process development, characterization, and optimization. How can mechanistic models improve process development, including selection and sequencing of unit operations, evaluation of the operating space, decision-making on operating mode (batch vs continuous)? How are mechanistic models best applied at the interface of development and manufacturing towards process design, especially for scaling up?

Keywords: scale-down model qualification, unit operation design, parameter estimation, design of experiments, design and operating space

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has become a commonly applied engineering tool for simulating complex fluid flows involving solid interactions. In the biotech industry, CFD may be combined with other mechanistic models to describe and model various unit operations including vessel mixing, multiphase systems (bioreactor aeration) and column flow distribution. However, generating better experimental datasets for comparing to CFD results is still needed for validation and is a critical part of establishing credibility to the models. The lack of published industry-accepted approaches for model development and validation still prevents CFD from being used in later stage. This session will focus on recent improvements within CFD that could simplify implementation in industry. The goal is to better understand and align on what is required to apply CFD effectively in the biotech industry to reduce experimentation and provide more insights into our processes and equipment.

Keywords: fluid flow simulation, multiphase systems, unit operations, mass transfer, advanced process understanding

Plant Modeling

Plant modeling (or flowsheet modeling) uses interconnected unit operation models to study, analyze and evaluate the full decision space of a given process including evaluation of new technologies. This session covers modeling challenges within facility design/retrofit, technology selection, flowsheet optimization and logistics. How can flowsheet modeling be applied to explore a large decision space? How can it support process design/retrofit problems including equipment sizing, interactions with auxiliary systems (utilities), staffing requirements? What tools and approaches are best suited to implement and integrate plant modeling in an organization, from early-stage development to full-scale manufacturing? How can we best develop, design and operate the processes and facilities of the future considering accelerated development timelines, demand uncertainty, modern technology, batch vs continuous, built for purpose vs multipurpose, single use vs steel?

Keywords: flowsheet simulation, process synthesis, technology selection, process capacity, plant-wide control

Submission of Abstracts

Abstracts are to be submitted to 5MW_2023@novonordisk.com by 14 February 2022.

The abstract should consist of all author names and affiliation with the potential presenting author as first author, abstract body, references and preferred session topic (if not within the four listed topics, "other" may be used).

Kindly indicate if the abstract may be shared with the workshop participants.

Please note that the abstract should not exceed the one-page format.

Abstract Format

Title
Author(s)
Affiliation

Abstract

References - if needed

Preferred session topic
[ ] Biophysics and Molecular Modeling
[ ] Mechanistic Modeling
[ ] Computational Fluid Dynamics
[ ] Plant Modeling
[ ] Other

Abstract may be shared with participants of the workshop
[ ] Yes
[ ] No

Wish to attend

Attendance is by invitation only, with selections made based on a review of information provided by each applicant. If you wish to attend without presenting in the technical program, you can submit an application. You will be notified on March 31^st 2023 if you are invited to attend. Invitations to the 5MW are based upon space limitations. If you receive an invitation to attend, you will receive a registration link. Please proceed with conference registration immediately on receipt of a formal invitation. Registration fees will be nominal to offset lodging expenses. Registration is not possible without an invitation.

Wish to attend →

The 5th Modeling Workshop aims at gathering representatives from industry and academia to discuss current and future challenges tackled with modeling.