The Biotechnology Training Program is pleased to present the following seminar by Joshua Katz:
At the Interface of Biology and Materials Science: Polymers and Surfactants for Improved Biologic Drug Manufacture, Purification, and Formulation
Biopharmaceutical manufacturing presents a unique set of interfacial challenges that span the entire drug production lifecycle—from upstream cell culture to downstream purification and final formulation. In this lecture, we will explore how interfacial phenomena fundamentally shape product quality, stability, and process performance, and how emerging excipient and process-aid technologies can address these limits. Recent advances in surfactant science demonstrate how molecular design can dramatically accelerate interfacial adsorption, outcompete proteins at air, oil, and polymer interfaces, and mitigate aggregation during agitation. Parallel studies show that novel surfactant chemistries offer advantages not only in drug product stabilization, but also in critical downstream operations. Upstream during cell culture, new insights into shear protection reveal that polymer–surfactant combinations can outperform legacy excipients, enhancing viable cell density, supporting process intensification efforts, and offering alternative mechanisms for mitigating hydrodynamic and interfacial stress. Together, these case studies will illustrate how a deeper understanding of interfacial science enables more robust biologic manufacturing—from stabilizing proteins under mechanical stress to improving the reliability of purification steps and increasing upstream productivity. The talk will highlight business rationales, mechanistic principles, experimental approaches, and practical implications for the scientists and engineers developing the next generation of biopharmaceuticals.
Joshua S. Katz is R&D Director for Biologics R&D with Roquette Health & Pharma Solutions with over twenty years of experience developing polymeric materials for biomedical applications. He received his S.B. in Chemistry with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At MIT, he worked under the guidance of Prof. Darrell Irvine. From MIT he moved to the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his PhD under the guidance of Professors Jason Burdick and Daniel Hammer. After completing his PhD, he joined the Formulation Science group at Dow Chemical, where he worked on projects focused on encapsulation and controlled delivery for a variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, coatings, agriculture, and industrial composites, with focus in more recent years more exclusively on the biopharma industry. Moving through a number of roles and a series of mergers, sales, and acquisitions (Dow to DuPont to IFF to Roquette) has led to his present position. His research today focuses on fundamentals and applications of biopharmaceutical production and formulation. Josh has won several awards recognizing his research accomplishments including a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (2006), Best Poster in Competition from the MIT Biomedical Engineering Society (2006), a named finalist for the DSM Polymer Technology Award 2011 presented in partnership with the POLY division of the American Chemical Society, and the AAPS Best Abstract Award in 2018. He holds 4 US patents, is an author of 15 patent applications, and has 36 peer-reviewed publications.
