Thoughts naturally turn to college football in September. But while you’re watching Penn State on the gridiron this season, know that the life sciences also command attention on campus.
That’s thanks to the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, which includes the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility. Penn State, a large public university in Pennsylvania, is located a few hours northwest of CSL’s King of Prussia campus.
Penn State describes the fermentation facility, which opened seven years ago, as a biotechnology pilot plant capable of research-scale and pilot-scale production of microbial cells, recombinant proteins and other microbial products over a wide range of controlled conditions.
The facility provides equipment and expertise to university-affiliated and independent government and industry researchers interested in fermentation and related technologies, including cell separation and disruption, biomolecule production and purification and process monitoring, according to the university. The CSL Behring Fermentation Facility includes upstream capabilities, biomass processing capabilities as well as purification and analytical capabilities.
This month, Penn State named Andrew Patterson as the new associate director for shared and core facilities, including the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility. He described how Penn State’s research infrastructure supports students and industry partnerships.
“Penn State’s core facilities enable scientists to conduct research that would be impossible to do alone due to the high cost of the equipment and expertise,” said Patterson, who is the John T. and Paige S. Smith Professor, professor of molecular toxicology and of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Huck Chair in Molecular Toxicology.
“Not only do these facilities support Penn State’s faculty members, but they also help to train students for impactful careers and support industry partnerships that aim to translate research findings into products and services that benefit the public,” he said.
In addition to the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility, other Huck core facilities include:
- Biomolecular Interactions Facility
- Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility
- Flow Cytometry Facility
- Genomics Core Facility
- High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility
- Metabolomics Core Facility
- Microscopy Facility
- Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry Core Facility
- Sartorius Cell Culture Facility
- X-Ray Crystallography and Scattering Facility
Learn more at the Huck Institutes website and watch a video about the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility.
