UCL Bioprocess Engineering Leadership Industrial Doctorate Training Centre

The UCL Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering trains bioprocess engineering leaders of the future who will underpin the translation of new scientific advances into safe, selective and manufacturable therapies for what are often currently intractable conditions, but at affordable costs. To achieve this we embed our Engineering Doctorates (EngDs) within the vibrant research community at UCL and with internationally leading industry collaborators.

The Course
An Engineering Doctorate (EngD) is a higher degree providing engineers and scientists with full research training at the life sciences interface that is relevant to bioprocessing and related technologies. The training programme equips students with the requisite knowledge and terminology in current life science subjects to allow them to explore topics in their own research project under direction from their supervisory team.

Students come from a wide range of disciplines including Life Sciences, Engineering, and Physical Sciences , with interests in bioprocess research at the interfaces of biochemistry, chemical and biochemical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, physics, and computational sciences. Research topics span bioprocess design, mammalian cell culture, stem cell processing, protein engineering, bioanalytics, formulation, process automation, microfluidics, process and cost modelling, biocatalysis and synthetic biology.

Each student admitted to the IDTC will complete a four year EngD. The doctoral research is complemented by taught courses and case studies designed to familiarise the student with bioprocessing topics, the life sciences interface and also the business and regulatory environment.

Taught topics are all delivered by an international lecturing team and include:

• Speed from discovery to benefit: using small mimics and mathematical models enhances the precision and rate of process development.
• Harnessing genomics: directed evolution and metabolic engineering can deliver efficient synthesis of complex drugs and improved catalysts.
• Making the outcome affordable: business approaches coupled with engineering paradigms offer new healthcare opportunities.
• Processing of complex materials: epitomised by the use of human proteins and stem cells for therapy where the challenge is to process materials of increasing complexity to make them available to all who need them.
• Environment and sustainability: exploiting environmentally benign biological catalysts allows replacement of toxic solvents and presents opportunities to make significant industrial improvements.