Meet the Biologics R&D External Innovation team:

Asgharpour Zara, PhD
Zara Asgharpour, PhD
Head of External Innovation
As head of External Innovations at Biologics R&D, Zara sets the strategic direction and oversees operational activities within the team. In this role, Zara is responsible for building a strong portfolio of innovators for Lonza and building strategic partnerships with companies, academic institutes and industry organizations that aim to bring innovative technologies into life.
Delphine Demeester PhD, MBA
Delphine Demeestere PhD, MBA
Lead Expression Systems
Delphine holds a PhD in biotechnology from the VIB in Belgium and an MBA from St Gallen university. She has over 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and initially started off in pre-clinical drug development where she worked on Nanobody technology in sepsis and glycopolymers in rare diseases. Besides scientific work, she also worked as a consultant in the pricing & market access area and in venture valuations.
Hemanth Kaligothla, M.Sc
Hemanth Kaligothla, M.Sc
Lead Process Science and Technology
Hemanth is the Director of External Innovation responsible for technology scouting and implementation at Lonza. He brings over 16 years of unique experience & leadership in biomanufacturing and commercial business development in the biopharma industry. Previously, he was the Regional Head of the Chromatography applications organization at Sartorius, responsible for commercial technology implementation.
Katarzyna Glanowska, PhD
Katarzyna Glanowska, PhD
Lead mRNA, Microbial, and Cell & Gene Therapy
Kasia brings deep scientific expertise combined with experience in early stage life science venture investing and science commercialization. Prior to joining Lonza, she was part of the investment team at the Michigan Biomedical Venture Fund, where she managed deal flows, conducted due diligence and company evaluations as well as actively supported portfolio companies. Kasia holds a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia, and a MSc in Biotechnology from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

Atul Mohindra

Head of R&D Biologics

Atul joined Lonza in 2005 and has held various positions within the company. Today, as Head of Biologics R&D, he is responsible for leading a global innovation team of more than 150 people in the discovery, design and development of innovative biologics platforms, processes and technologies for Lonza's mammalian and microbial network. With over 20 years of experience in cell biology, bioprocessing and media optimization, Atul has successfully developed and implemented mammalian cell culture, purification and analytical platform processes for several innovator and biosimilar programs.

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Come and join us to enable a healthier world.

About us

Expanding end-to-end solutions across modalities

Biologics

Market-leading CDMO with a global reach

Why Partner with Us


We offer our technology partners the path to accelerate the development of their innovative ideas and findings through:

  • Research funding for a specific project
  • Technical support
  • Joint work plan and milestones
  • Access to Lonza expertise
  • Coaching during the project lifetime
  • Publications, continued support and upside when successful

  • Our Partnership Models

  • Sponsored research
  • Licensing
  • Research collaborations
  • M&A
  • In-kind support

  • We look forward to working together


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    Mammalian Expression Systems - areas of interest

    Cell optimization

    HTP screening

    Synthetic biology

    • Optimization strategies to improve productivity / the use of cell resources
    • High throughput screening technologies for cell/clone identification (stability and productivity)
    • Cell line stability solutions
    • Cell line screening technologies
    • System biology and synthetic biology tools
    • Prediction tools (AI and ML) for clone/strain development and selection

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    Microbial Expression Systems - areas of interest

    E. coli

    Strain optimization

    Inclusion bodies

    Secretion

    Screening

    • Strain stability improvements throughout the upscaling process
    • Optimization of production of protein of interest / plasmid optimization
    • Solutions around inclusion body formation
    • Protein secretion technologies
    • HT live strain screening and analysis tools
    • Synthetic biology tools
    • Prediction tools (AI and ML) for clone/strain development and selection

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    mRNA - areas of interest

    mRNA

    Transcription, processing, purification

    LNP formulation platform development

    Delivery and targeting

    Formulations

    • LNP formulation platform development

    Targeting

    • Targeting and mRNA delivery

    Manufacturing

    • mRNA transcription, processing and purification

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    Bioconjugates (ADCs) - areas of interest

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    Bioconjugation

    Linkers and payloads

    Manufacturing

    Conjugation Technologies

    • Bioorthogonal conjugations
    • Selective chemical conjugations
    • ADC manufacturing using site selective conjugation (SSC)
    • Specific conjugation technology for conjugation of oligonucleotides

    Linkers and Payloads

  • Improved linker technology
  • Payloads
    • Novel mode of actions (MOA)
    • New chemistries

    Manufacturing Technologies

    • High-throughput generation and analysis of bioconjugates at lab scale – and its potential applications in manufacturing

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    Bioprocess Development and Manufacturing - areas of interest

    Cell Iine process development

    PAT

    Downstream processing

    Robotics automation

    In-Silico modeling & Digital Twin tools

    Miniaturization (microfluidics)

    • PAT: Increase USP and DSP process monitoring and control with on-line and in-line analytical technologies
    • Novel clarification and downstream platforms for new therapeutic modalities to accelerate time to clinic
    • High throughput automation technologies for bioprocessing
    • In-silico modeling and digital twin tools
    • Manufacturing and technology transfer tools

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    Data Science and Bioinformatics - areas of interest

    tech working in lab with computer

    AI / Machine Learning

    Algorithms to monitor biological processes

    Bioinformatic tools for protein sciences

    Data management

    Gather Omics Knowledge

    • Knowledge-bases of pathways in mammalian cells
    • Omics datasets (genetics, genomics, proteomics, epigenetics, single cells) of mammalian cells in a bioprocessing environment

    Characterize Biological Processes (Mammalian/Microbial)

    • Algorithms to perform multi-omics association studies and machine learning with special emphasis on decision trees
    • Technologies to measure multiple omics cell characteristics simultaneously (e.g. protein and gene expression)

    Protein Sciences

    • Technologies and algorithms to predict protein properties based on sequence and structural data
    • Tools to predict the best expression systems based on pre-defined protein features (size, glycosylation, etc.)

    Bioprocessing

    • Algorithms to harness online bioreactor measurements (e.g. Raman spectra)
    • High-throughput screening
    • Software for high-throughput phenotypic screening and monitoring or proteins and cells

    Data Management

    • Technologies to store, access, query and view large omics datasets
    • Databases and database structures to store knowledge derived from our experiments (e.g. graph knowledge bases)

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    We look forward to working together

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