scholarly journals The Bioprocess TEA Calculator: An online techno-economic analysis tool to evaluate the commercial competitiveness of potential bioprocesses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Lynch

AbstractTechno-economic analysis connects R&D, engineering, and business. By linking process parameters to financial metrics, it allows researchers to understand the factors controlling the potential success of their technologies. In particular, metabolic and bioprocess engineering, as disciplines, are aimed at engineering cells to synthesize products with an ultimate goal of commercial deployment. As a result it is critical to be able to understand the potential impact of strain engineering strategies and lab scale results on commercial potential. To date, while numerous techno-economic models have been developed for a wide variety of bioprocesses, they have either required process engineering expertise to adapt and/or use or do not directly connect financial outcomes to potential strain engineering results. Despite the clear value of techno-economic analysis, these challenges have made it inaccessible to many researchers. I have developed this online calculator (https://bioprocesstea.com OR http://bioprocess-tea-calculator.herokuapp.com/) to make the basic capabilities of early-stage techno-economic analysis of bioprocesses readily accessible. The tool, currently focused on aerobic fermentation processes, can be used to understand the impact of fermentation level metrics on the commercial potential of a bioprocess for the production of a wide variety of organic molecules. Using the calculator, I review the commercially relevant targets for an aerobic bioprocess for the production of diethyl malonate.HighlightsA generalized techno-economic analysis tool for aerobic fermentation based bioprocesses.Relates strain and process improvements to projected commercial financial outcomesCommercial bioprocess targets to produce diethyl malonate are estimated to include fermentation titers >150 g/L, rates > 5g/L-hr and > 90% yield, with downstream purification yields > 90% and purification costs limited to less than 20% of total.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lennard Epping ◽  
Andries J. van Tonder ◽  
Rebecca A. Gladstone ◽  
Stephen D. Bentley ◽  
Andrew J. Page ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStreptococcus pneumoniae is responsible for 240,000 - 460,000 deaths in children under 5 years of age each year. Accurate identification of pneumococcal serotypes is important for tracking the distribution and evolution of serotypes following the introduction of effective vaccines. Recent efforts have been made to infer serotypes directly from genomic data but current software approaches are limited and do not scale well. Here, we introduce a novel method, SeroBA, which uses a hybrid assembly and mapping approach. We compared SeroBA against real and simulated data and present results on the concordance and computational performance against a validation dataset, the robustness and scalability when analysing a large dataset, and the impact of varying the depth of coverage in the cps locus region on sequence-based serotyping. SeroBA can predict serotypes, by identifying the cps locus, directly from raw whole genome sequencing read data with 98% concordance using a k-mer based method, can process 10,000 samples in just over 1 day using a standard server and can call serotypes at a coverage as low as 10x. SeroBA is implemented in Python3 and is freely available under an open source GPLv3 license from: https://github.com/sanger-pathogens/seroba.DATA SUMMARYThe reference genome Streptococcus pneumoniae ATCC 700669 is available from National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) with the accession number: FM211187Simulated paired end reads for experiment 2 have been deposited in FigShare: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5086054.v1Accession numbers for all other experiments are listed in Supplementary Table S1 and Supplementary Table S2.I/We confirm all supporting data, code and protocols have been provided within the article or through supplementary data files. ⊠IMPACT STATEMENTThis article describes SeroBA, a A-mer based method for predicting the serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae from Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) data. SeroBA can identify 92 serotypes and 2 subtypes with constant memory usage and low computational costs. We showed that SeroBA is able to reliably predict serotypes at a depth of coverage as low as 10x and is scalable to large datasets.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A645-A645
Author(s):  
Opal Reddy ◽  
Sandhya Panch ◽  
Chauha Pham ◽  
Mame Thioye Sall ◽  
Minh Tran ◽  
...  

BackgroundWith the explosive growth of cancer immunotherapies, cancer vaccines have been in the spotlight for their ability to turn cold tumors hot. Particularly, dendritic cell vaccines (DCV) are capable of harnessing the immune system to recognize single or multiple epitopes as they are professional antigen presenting cells. However, DCVs have not been recognized as the platform of choice in many studies due to relatively high cost, difficulty in standardizing manufacturing methods and risk of product inconsistency. We have been using monocyte-derived DCs transduced with an adenovirus vector expressing HER2/neu in a clinical trial to treat HER2-expressing cancers. The vaccine was administered on weeks 0, 4, 8, 16 and 24 at 4 different dose-levels; 5 × 10E6, 10 × 10E6, 20 × 10E6 and 40 × 10E6 viable cells. The clinical outcome of the study is under analysis.1 To further optimize the safety and consistency of DCV, we reviewed the issues encountered in a first-in-human clinical trial during the manufacture of these cells at the NIH Clinical Center.MethodsManufacturing records of NCT01730118 A Phase I Study of an Autologous DCV Targeting HER2 in Solid Tumors were reviewed to identify any complications or deviations encountered during manufacturing from apheresis to delivery of the fresh DCVs (figure 1).ResultsBetween April 2013 and October 2019, 134 vaccines were manufactured for 33 patients. A total of 113 (84%) DCVs were administered, with 103 (91%) of those meeting release criteria, and the remaining administered under authorized medical exception (AME). All patients underwent a single apheresis collection with 18 (median, range 15–20) liters processed and a goal of 6 aliquots (333 × 10E6 monocytes/vial). Dual lumen catheterization was required in 23 (70%) patients, and all procedural reactions required no or minimal intervention. Summaries enumerate aberrancies encountered during the manufacturing process (table 1). Overall, interpatient variabilities may have contributed to 92 (78%) events, while 26 (22%) events arose in a ‘controllable’, patient-unrelated environment.Abstract 610 Figure 1Autologous DC vaccine manufacturing at the NIH clinical centerAbstract 610 Table 1ConclusionsIn spite of the variable events encountered during the manufacturing process, the majority of products were administered successfully. Patient-related variabilities were linked to most of the events. Future studies should be designed to minimize the impact of such variabilities on DCVs to provide high-quality personalized therapies. Manufacturing one large lot of DCs and cryopreserving enough aliquots for the entire study and the incorporation of an automated, closed cell culture system may reduce the aforementioned incidents and improve product quality.AcknowledgementsThis study was supported by the NIH Clinical Center and Center for Cancer Research, the National Cancer Institute. The authors are indebted to the staffs at NIH Clinical Center and the patients.Ethics ApprovalThe study was approved by NCI/NIH Institutional Review Board (#534360, 13C0016).ReferencesMaeng, H.M., et al., Preliminary results of a phase I clinical trial using an autologous dendritic cell cancer vaccine targeting HER2 in patients with metastatic cancer or operated high-risk bladder cancer (NCT01730118). Journal of Clinical Oncology 2019. 37(15_suppl): p. 2639–2639.Jin, P., et al., Plasma from some cancer patients inhibits adenoviral Ad5f35 vector transduction of dendritic cells. Cytotherapy 2018;20(5): p. 728–739.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imam Wibowo ◽  
Santi Putri Ananda

Purpose-To study the impact of the service quality and trust on customers loyalty of PT.Bank Mandiri,Tbk; Kelapa Gading Barat Branch. To improve the customers loyalty there are several factors that can influence them, such as service quality and trust. Methodology/approach-The research population was all customers PT.Bank Mandiri,Tbk;Kelapa Gading Barat Branch.According to the homogeneous population and based on the Gay and Diehl Theory, the samples taken were 50 people. Variables in this investigations consisted of: a).Independent Variables (exogenous): Service Quality (X1) and Trust (X2). b).The dependent variable (endogenous) Customers Loyalty (Y). Analysis tool being used is multiple linear regression which previously conducted validity and realiability. Findings-The result of investigations that service quality and trust simultaneously have a very strong contribution of 75,5% to the customers loyalty, and partially showed that service quality has significant and positive contribution to the customers loyalty of 64,8%. Partially, the trust variable has significant and positive contribution which amounted to 55,9% to the customers loyalty.


Author(s):  
Eyal Zamir ◽  
Doron Teichman

In the past few decades, economic analysis of law has been challenged by a growing body of experimental and empirical studies that attest to prevalent and systematic deviations from the assumptions of economic rationality. While the findings on bounded rationality and heuristics and biases were initially perceived as antithetical to standard economic and legal-economic analysis, over time they have been largely integrated into mainstream economic analysis, including economic analysis of law. Moreover, the impact of behavioral insights has long since transcended purely economic analysis of law: in recent years, the behavioral movement has become one of the most influential developments in legal scholarship in general. Behavioral Law and Economics offers a state-of-the-art overview of the field. The book surveys the entire body of psychological research underpinning behavioral analysis of law, and critically evaluates the core methodological questions of this area of research. The book then discusses the fundamental normative questions stemming from the psychological findings on bounded rationality, and explores their implications for establishing the aims of legislation, and the means of attaining them. This is followed by a systematic and critical examination of the contributions of behavioral studies to all major fields of law—property, contracts, consumer protection, torts, corporate, securities regulation, antitrust, administrative, constitutional, international, criminal, and evidence law—as well as to the behavior of key players in the legal arena: litigants and judicial decision-makers.


Author(s):  
Daniel B. Kelly

This chapter analyzes how law and economics influences private law and how (new) private law is influencing law and economics. It focuses on three generation or “waves” within law and economics and how they approach private law. In the first generation, many scholars took the law as a starting point and attempted to use economic insights to explain, justify, or reform legal doctrines, institutions, and structures. In the second generation, the “law” at times became secondary, with more focus on theory and less focus on doctrines, institutions, and structures. But this generation also relied increasingly on empirical analysis. In the third generation, which includes scholars in the New Private Law (NPL), there has been a resurgence of interest in the law and legal institutions. To be sure, NPL scholars analyze the law using various approaches, with some more and some less predisposed to economic analysis. However, economic analysis will continue to be a major force on private law, including the New Private Law, for the foreseeable future. The chapter considers three foundational private law areas: property, contracts, and torts. For each area, it discusses the major ideas that economic analysis has contributed to private law, and surveys contributions of the NPL. The chapter also looks at the impact of law and economics on advanced private law areas, such as business associations, trusts and estates, and intellectual property.


Trials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ubiratan Cardinalli Adler ◽  
Maristela Schiabel Adler ◽  
Livia Mitchiguian Hotta ◽  
Ana Elisa Madureira Padula ◽  
Amarilys de Toledo Cesar ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives To investigate the effectiveness and safety of homeopathic medicine Natrum muriaticum (LM2) for mild cases of COVID-19 in Primary Health Care. Trial design A randomized, two-armed (1:1), parallel, placebo-controlled, double-blind, clinical trial is being performed to test the following hypotheses: H0: homeopathic medicines = placebo (null hypothesis) vs. H1: homeopathic medicines ≠ placebo (alternative hypothesis) for mild cases of COVID-19 in Primary Care. Participants Setting: Primary Care of São Carlos – São Paulo – Brazil. One hundred participants aged 18 years or older, with Influenza-like symptoms and a positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. Willingness to give informed consent and to comply with the study procedures is also required. Exclusion criterium: severe acute respiratory syndrome. Intervention and comparator Homeopathy: 1 globule of Natrum muriaticum LM2 diluted in 20 mL of alcohol 30% and dispensed in a 30 ml bottle. Placebo: 20 mL of alcohol 30% dispensed in a 30 ml bottle. Posology: one drop taken orally every 4 hours (6 doses/day) while there is fever, cough, tiredness, or pain (headache, sore throat, muscle aches, chest pain, etc.) followed by one drop every 6 hours (4 doses/day) until the fourteenth day of use. The bottle of study medication should be submitted to 10 vigorous shakes (succussions) before each dose. Posology may be changed by telemedicine, with no break in blinding. Study medication should be maintained during home isolation. According to the Primary Care protocol, the home isolation period lasts until the 10th day after the appearance of the first symptom, or up to 72 hours without symptoms. Main outcomes The primary endpoint will be time to recovery, defined as the number of days elapsed before all COVID-19 Influenza-like symptoms are recorded as mild or absent during home isolation period. Secondary measures are recovery time for each COVID-19 symptom; score of the scale created for the study (COVID-Simile Scale); medicines used during follow-up; number of days of follow-up; number of visits to emergency services; number of hospitalizations; other symptoms and Adverse Events during home isolation period. Randomisation The study Statistician generated a block randomization list, using a 1:1 ratio of the two groups (denoted as A and B) and a web-based tool (http://www.random.org/lists). Blinding (masking) The clinical investigators, the statistician, the Primary Care teams, the study collaborators, and the participants will remain blinded from the identity of the two treatment groups until the end of the study. Numbers to be randomised (sample size) One hundred participants are planned to be randomized (1:1) to placebo (50) or homeopathy (50). Trial Status Protocol version/date May 21, 2020. Recruitment is ongoing. First participant was recruited/included on June 29,2020. Due to recruitment adaptations to Primary Care changes, the authors anticipate the trial will finish recruiting on April 10, 2021. Trial registration COVID-Simile Study was registered at the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN - https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/index.htm) on June 1st, 2020, and the trial start date was June 15, 2020. Unique ID: UMIN000040602. Full protocol The full protocol is attached as an additional file, accessible from the Trials website (Additional file 1). In the interest in expediting dissemination of this material, the familiar formatting has been eliminated; this Letter serves as a summary of the key elements of the full protocol.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Abrahamsson ◽  
Sebastian Meltzer ◽  
Vidar Nyløkken Hagen ◽  
Christin Johansen ◽  
Paula A. Bousquet ◽  
...  

Abstract Background We reported previously that rectal cancer patients given curative-intent chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery for non-metastatic disease had enhanced risk of metastatic progression and death if circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH) D] were low. Here we investigated whether the association between the vitamin D status and prognosis pertains to the general, unselected population of rectal cancer patients. Methods Serum 25(OH) D at the time of diagnosis was assessed in 129 patients, enrolled 2013–2017 and representing the entire range of rectal cancer stages, and analyzed with respect to season, sex, systemic inflammation, and survival. Results In the population-based cohort residing at latitude 60°N, 25(OH) D varied according to season in men only, who were overrepresented among the vitamin D-deficient (< 50 nmol/L) patients. Consistent with our previous findings, the individuals presenting with T4 disease had significantly reduced 25(OH) D levels. Low vitamin D was associated with systemic inflammation, albeit with distinct modes of presentation. While men with low vitamin D showed circulating markers typical for the systemic inflammatory response (e.g., elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate), the corresponding female patients had elevated serum levels of interleukin-6 and the chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 7. Despite disparities in vitamin D status and the potential effects on disease attributes, significantly shortened cancer-specific survival was observed in vitamin D-deficient patients irrespective of sex. Conclusion This unselected rectal cancer cohort confirmed the interconnection of low vitamin D, more advanced disease presentation, and poor survival, and further suggested it may be conditional on disparate modes of adverse systemic inflammation in men and women. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.govNCT01816607; registration date: 22 March 2013.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fausto Biancari ◽  
Giovanni Mariscalco ◽  
Hakeem Yusuff ◽  
Geoffrey Tsang ◽  
Suvitesh Luthra ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Acute Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD) is a life-threatening condition. Surgery is usually performed as a salvage procedure and is associated with significant postoperative early mortality and morbidity. Understanding the patient’s conditions and treatment strategies which are associated with these adverse events is essential for an appropriate management of acute TAAD. Methods Nineteen centers of cardiac surgery from seven European countries have collaborated to create a multicentre observational registry (ERTAAD), which will enroll consecutive patients who underwent surgery for acute TAAD from January 2005 to March 2021. Analysis of the impact of patient’s comorbidities, conditions at referral, surgical strategies and perioperative treatment on the early and late adverse events will be performed. The investigators have developed a classification of the urgency of the procedure based on the severity of preoperative hemodynamic conditions and malperfusion secondary to acute TAAD. The primary clinical outcomes will be in-hospital mortality, late mortality and reoperations on the aorta. Secondary outcomes will be stroke, acute kidney injury, surgical site infection, reoperation for bleeding, blood transfusion and length of stay in the intensive care unit. Discussion The analysis of this multicentre registry will allow conclusive results on the prognostic importance of critical preoperative conditions and the value of different treatment strategies to reduce the risk of early adverse events after surgery for acute TAAD. This registry is expected to provide insights into the long-term durability of different strategies of surgical repair for TAAD. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04831073.


2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 168.2-168
Author(s):  
L. Wagner ◽  
S. Sestini ◽  
C. Brown ◽  
A. Finglas ◽  
R. Francisco ◽  
...  

Background:Inborn metabolic disorders (IMDs) currently encompass more than 1,500 diseases with new ones still to be identified1. Each of them is characterised by a genetic defect affecting a metabolic pathway. Only few of them have curative treatments, that target the respective metabolic pathway. Commonly, treatment examples include diet, substrate reduction therapies, enzyme replacement therapies, gene therapy and biologicals, enabling IMD-patient now to survive to adulthood. About 30 % of all IMDs involve the musculoskeletal system and are here referred to as rare metabolic RMDs. Generally, IMDs are very heterogenous with respect to symptoms and severity, often being systemic and affecting more children than adults. Thus, challenges include certified advanced training of adult metabolic experts, standardised transition plans, social support and development of therapies for diseases that do not have any cure yet.Objectives:Introduction of MetabERN, its structure and objectives, highlighting on the unique features and challenges of metabolic RMDs and describing the involvement of patient representation in MetabERN.Methods:MetabERN is stratified in 7 subnetworks (SNW) according to the respective metabolic pathways and 9 work packages (WP), including administration, dissemination, guidelines, virtual counselling framework, research/clinical trials, continuity of care, education and patient involvement. The patient board involves a steering committee and single point of contacts for each subnetwork and work package, respectively2. Projects include identifying the need of implementing social science to assess the psycho-socio-economic burden of IMDs, webinars on IMDs and their transition as well as surveys on the impact of COVID-193 on IMD-patients and health care providers (HCPs), social assistance for IMD-patients and analysing the transition landscape within Europe.Results:The MetabERN structure enables bundling of expertise, capacity building and knowledge transfer for faster diagnosis and better health care. Rare metabolic RMDs are present in all SNWs that require unique treatments according to their metabolic pathways. Implementation of social science to assess the psycho-socio-economic burden of IMDs is still underused. Involvement of patient representatives is essential for a holistic healthcare not only focusing on clinical care, but also on the quality of life for IMD-patients. Surveys identified unmet needs of patient care, patients having little information on national support systems and structural deficits of healthcare systems to ensure HCP can provide adequate clinical care during transition phases. These results are collected by MetabERN and forwarded to the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) of the European Commission (EC) to be addressed further.Conclusion:MetabERN offers an infrastructure of virtual healthcare for patients with IMDs. Thus, in collaboration with ERN ReCONNET, MetabERN can assist in identifying rare metabolic disorders of RMDs to shorten the odyssey of diagnosis and advise on their respective therapies. On the other hand, MetabERN can benefit from EULAR’s longstanding experience regarding issues affecting the quality of life, all RMD patients are facing, such as pain, stiffness, fatigue, rehabilitation, maintaining work and disability claims.References:[1]IEMbase - Inborn Errors of Metabolism Knowledgebase http://www.iembase.org/ (accessed Jan 29, 2021).[2]MetabERN: European Refence Network for Hereditary Metabolic Disorders https://metab.ern-net.eu/ (accessed Jan 29, 2021).[3]Lampe, C.; Dionisi-Vici, C.; Bellettato, C. M.; Paneghetti, L.; van Lingen, C.; Bond, S.; Brown, C.; Finglas, A.; Francisco, R.; Sestini, S.; Heard, J. M.; Scarpa, M.; MetabERN collaboration group. The Impact of COVID-19 on Rare Metabolic Patients and Healthcare Providers: Results from Two MetabERN Surveys. Orphanet J. Rare Dis.2020, 15 (1), 341. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-020-01619-x.Acknowledgements:The authors thank the MetabERN collaboration group, the single point of contacts (SPOC) of the MetabERN patient board and the Transition Project Working Group (TPWG)Disclosure of Interests:None declared


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