Protech:

Designing the Next Large Scale Bioreactor

Sarah Chaikind, Emily Gee, Stephanie Lundgren, Sara Peterson

Internal Advisor: Dr. Mike Zhang

External Advisor: MedImmune
About our Project
Problem statement:

Currently, cancer patients are subject to treatments that negatively affect their entire
body. We will design a bioreactor that is able to create drug loaded nanoparticles
to treat breast cancer without systemic side effects.

Goals & Objectives:

Design an efficient production method to create cancer-targeting nanoparticles

Determine best bioreactor type, material, cost, necessary feed streams and rest times, and
reduce energy and material usage when possible

Create cancer targeting nanoparticles which are best suited for medical application

Determine which nanoparticle and drug are best within health standards
Criteria and Constraints
Criteria
-FDA determined health safety standard must be met
-Consider international drug standards
-Product purity
-Cost must be less than or comparable to cost of receiving chemotherapy treatment

Constraints
-No current bioreactor technology developed for industrial use, very little
biotechnology development for drug loaded nanoparticles for lab use
-Drug loading capacity of PLGA
-Sanitation of bioreactors in the lab and industrial settings
-Current efficacy of cancer drugs and their compatibility with nanoparticles