Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing

Connecting Biotech Boundaries—Academia to Industry

At CBB, our goal is to reshape the agricultural, chemical, nutritional, and pharmaceutical industries by combining the intellectual talents of top scientific faculty with the practical delivery of new technologies. Confidential collaborations with clients enable our laboratory to produce products and develop processes for industry, government, and academia.

CBB's​ main laboratory concentrates on research and process development (RPD). The RPD laboratory is 13,000 Sq Ft and operates with the discipline of safe lab practices, standard operating procedures (SOPs), good documentation and well-defined protocols. The CBB RPD laboratory offers gene cloning, clonal selection, state-of-the-art fermentation, downstream purification, bioprocessing and analytical services. All work is performed by experienced, professional full-time staff with expertise in process development.

In addition to research and process development laboratory, CBB provides cGMP fermentation and protein purification services for Phase 1 clinical trials. cGMP laboratory started its operations in 2007. All the critical equipment in the cGMP facilities have been qualified with Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT), IQ and OQ. Since 2007, CBB has successfully executed more than 50 campaigns. This has resulted in IND filing by a client.

This course entitled Upstream Biotechnology Processes is designed to provide students with hands-on experience in basic upstream fermentation processes applicable to the biotechnology industry. Basic concepts and general designs of upstream fermentations will be covered through a series of lectures. The bulk of the course, however, will be spent in the laboratory where students will have an opportunity to perform a fermentation on a 5-liter scale.

Professor Mani V. Subramanian, former Director of Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing at University of Iowa, died on 23rd September in San Diego, California following a long battle with cancer. Mani earned his Ph.D., in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India in 1978 and moved to the United States as a post-doctoral fellow. He had an illustrious career, first in the corporate sector with Dow Chemical, Maxygen, and Novartis/Sandoz Agro, and then in the academic world as a Professor in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering.