News
Commencement of the C.A.S.H. Research Facility
02 September 2010
Construction has begun of a new 1350sqm research facility for the Centre of Applied Science for Health on the ITT Dublin campus. The facility will include research laboratories for microbiology, molecular biology, animal cell culture, synthetic organic chemistry, electroanalytical sensor devices, analytical instrumentation, and biomechanical engineering.
Included in the facility will be 200sqm of laboratories that will be available to industry partners. These laboratories will allow companies to locate research projects and people within the centre, access the available technologies and expertise of C.A.S.H., and develop mutually beneficial research outputs.
The development of the Centre of Applied Science for Health represents a significant milestone in the growth of the Institute and the critical role it has and will continue to play in the provision of high quality opportunities for students from the greater Tallaght area, supporting businesses through the development of new products and the provision of expert services.
The Centre of Applied Science for Health brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers under one roof and the new research building with its modern well equipped laboratories will be a major boost to the capability of the Institute to serve the needs of the Tallaght area. The project is funded under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions – Cycle 4 with aid from the EU Regional Development Fund (ERDF). As part of the proposed development and consistent with the Institutes ongoing support of regional business development, ITT Dublin is funding the creation of a number of Innovation Laboratories which will be available to local SME’s to run industry-academia collaborative research projects, and to access expertise and advanced scientific and engineering facilities at the Institute, and enhance collaborations between the Institute and local enterprises.
Over the last 18 months, ITT Dublin with support from the Higher Education Authority and Enterprise Ireland have invested over €3 million in new research equipment to expand capabilities in pharmaceutical formulation and analysis, fermentation, and materials surface analysis further underpinning the capability of their researchers to work with industry.
Process Analytical Technology
02 September 2010
Formulation Mixing Tank at IttProcess Analytical Technology researchers within the C.A.S.H. Centre, supported by funding from the Enterprise Ireland Institutes of Technology Research Equipment Grant scheme 2008, have created a technology base to support and consolidate pharmaceutical industry-academia collaborations with a specific focus on the development and implementation of Process Analytical Technologies (PAT). A multidisciplinary PAT Group has been formed at ITT Dublin involving pharmaceutical/analytical scientists, process control engineers and a statistician. The team will be headed by Dr. Ed Carey and Dr. Maureen Walsh of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (CPRD) at ITT Dublin. Process Analytical Technology (PAT) seeks to create integrated systems for design, analysis, and control of bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing. In essence, PAT involves real-time testing and continuous process improvement based on a complete understanding of how the components and related processes affect the final product. A key objective for this R&D effort will be to put in place a comprehensive suite of PAT equipment to support development and innovation in the area of pharmaceutical processing and enable detailed investigations of pharmaceutical PAT’s and their transfer to industry. There will be an emphasis on the deployment and validation of current PAT’s to aid process improvements, to develop deeper critical understandings of individual processes, and to extend this knowledge to the improvement of other processes. The key itmes of equipment to be purchased under this scheme will include: Dispersive Raman Microscope Spectrometer for imaging of tablets; MPA FT-NIR Spectrometer; GranuMet XP acoustic emission system; FT4 Powder for post-discovery phase R&D on pharmaceutical process technologies available at ITT Dublin through it’s Pharmaceutical Pilot Plant, Bioprocess Technology Centre, and Technology Transfer Lab.
As part of its initiatives to support enterprise development, the Institute has created a suite of innovation laboratories dedicated to industry-academia research and innovation projects including Pharmaceutical Product Development and Technology Transfer (70m2). This facility is in addition to the National Pharmaceutical Technology Centre containing a pilot-scale pharmaceutical plant (278m2) and a pharmaceutical technology laboratory at the Institute. The Centre comprises integrated pilot scale Bio & Pharmaceutical Technology facilities that consist of Pilot Plant (industrial–scale formulation system, pasteurizer, filling-line, and all necessary utilities); Technology Transfer Laboratory (synthetic kilo-laboratory production, granulation/ tabletting facilities); Bioprocess Technology Centre (fermenters with comprehensive downstream processing and support equipment); and an Automation Centre (PLC control, SCADA and batch management software). A full suite of Analytical Laboratories providing comprehensive chemical, biochemical and molecular biology analytical instrumentation and industry standard test equipment is also available. As part of the C.A.S.H. research facility, a further 200sqm of innovation laboratory space is due to come on stream early in 2011 to support industry-acdemia collaborative research.
