Session: In Honor of Wei-Shou Hu I - 30 Years of Mammalian Cell Culture Engineering for Biologics Manufacturing (Invited Talks)

The FDA approval of the first recombinant protein expressed by mammalian cells, recombinant tissue plasminogen activator sold in 1987, marked the beginning of a new era of mammalian cell culture bioprocessing. Over the last 30 years, mammalian cell cultures have been developed to produce biologics that now have a commercial value of around $200 billion annually. These include more than 60 licensed monoclonal antibodies and their variants. This symposium will highlight major progress made in enabling mammalian cell culture bioprocessing, from when it was not at all clear how it could be effectively scaled-up to what has become the main technology platform for biologics manufacturing. We will celebrate achievements of many academic and industrial chemical engineers and other professionals over the past 30 years, and also address how new mammalian cell culture engineering opportunities make this a vibrant and expanding field. The organizers would like to dedicate this symposium to Professor Wei-Shou Hu on his 65th birthday. Starting as a most influential pioneer, he has been a leading teacher, organizer and researcher throughout these three decades of mammalian cell culture engineering.