Partnering with Lonza

Meet the Biologics R&D External Innovation team:

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Lonza is a leading contract development and manufacturing organization with global reach. We have extensive expertise in the discovery, development, manufacturing and distribution of biologics and cell and gene technologies.

Our unique value lies in the way we integrate technology into our differentiated offering, which is focused on meeting our customers’ complex needs. We have the capability, reputation, expertise, and infrastructure to deliver cutting-edge science and product development.

Through strategic partnerships with innovators, scientists, and entrepreneurs, we combine our internal resources with external initiatives and maximize the potential of new ideas and technologies.

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

We look forward to working together

External Innovation at Lonza

Mammalian Expression

Microbial Expression

mRNA

Bioconjugates

Bioprocess Development and Manufacturing

Data Science and Bioinformatics

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

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

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

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

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

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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