Tandem Industry Academia (TIA) Professor (2022)
Professor Tero Soukka’s project aims at developing new manufacturing method for biotechnical products
Project title:
Reinventing biotechnical manufacturing – from batch to continuous
Approved funding:
152 500 €
Applicant:
University of Turku
Industrial partner:
Radiometer Turku Oy
“In this project the need for research stems from the business company – we didn’t have to invent that need. Our partner business is faced with growing demand for its product and therefore with a challenge: it needs to figure out how to satisfy that demand and at the same time to maintain its high standards of product quality and improve price competitiveness. All this presents us with an intriguing but exceptionally demanding research challenge.”
The project researchers will be working closely with Radiometer Turku to develop new solutions for the continuous manufacturing of complex biotechnical products such as in vitro diagnostic tests. In vitro tests are widely used in hospital emergency rooms, for instance, where immediate patient diagnosis is critical. Nowadays these health technology tests are produced in multi-step batch processes, which involve long manufacturing lead times.
This project will explore what methods or technologies are needed to drive the shift from batch production to continuous manufacturing where a single test is moved through each step of the manufacturing process in one go. Continuous flow reduces the lead time to final product, increases production capacity, reduces waste, lowers production costs and provides more uniform product quality. The results from the project will benefit developers of in vitro health technologies and will also have broader application in the biotechnology field.
Professor Ulla Lassi’s project aims to develop new materials for the battery chemicals industry
Project title:
Development of Industrially Relevant Cathode Active Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries (CAM4SIB)
Approved funding:
153 547 €
Applicant:
University of Oulu
Industrial partner:
Umicore Finland
“This joint project will give added meaning to my academic research and to the expertise that our research team has accumulated over the years. We’ll be very much in the frontline of putting research results to practical use in an industrial business context.”
This collaboration with Umicore Finland is aimed at developing sodium-ion batteries, an alternative to lithium-ion batteries in certain circumstances and applications such as wind turbines. Substitutes for lithium-ion batteries could provide an answer to the industry’s crippling raw materials shortage, paving the way to the production of industrially relevant, affordable and safe materials with sufficient electrochemical performance and a sufficiently long charging cycle.
Sodium-ion batteries can be used in applications where space is not critical and where there are no mobility requirements. The results will first and foremost benefit the battery chemicals industry and other operators connected to the battery value chain in Finland. In the long term the project will also open up new opportunities for industrial investment in Finland.
Professor Anne Juppo’s project aims to research innovative technologies for the oral delivery of protein and peptide pharmaceuticals
Project title:
Development of novel medical devices for oral administration of protein and peptide pharmaceuticals
Approved funding:
152 033 €
Applicant:
University of Helsinki
Industrial partner:
Bayer Corporation
“This is a very topical research subject that requires unique expertise in medical technologies that is scarce both in industry and especially in academia. Our project combines my own team’s research into the stability of therapeutic proteins and research into the operation of medical devices.”
This aim of this project is to develop novel innovative technologies for the oral administration of therapeutic proteins and peptides in collaboration with Bayer Pharmaceuticals. These needle-free technologies not only make the patient’s life easier but also reduce healthcare costs. The main focus of the collaboration will be to address the challenges of peptide and protein medication. Proteins are liable to chemical modification and easily break down in the human digestive environment.
The project will aim to find out how proteins and peptides can be passed through the digestive system without altering their chemical composition. The results have the potential to revolutionize the development of protein therapies and to create a novel technology with wide-ranging application in the pharmaceuticals industry.
Professor Hele Savin’s project aims at developing new characterization methods for silicon wafers to meet the needs of the semiconductor industry
Project title:
Contactless characterization of silicon wafers
Approved funding:
149 075 €
Applicant:
Aalto University
Industrial partner:
Okmetic Oyj
“My goal is to help resolve major social challenges as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that is to work closely with a major semiconductor company. These companies have the clearest picture and understanding of existing bottlenecks in the industry today. Without these insights that come from the business side, it would be difficult to know how the tools I have developed in the project can best serve the needs of an industry that is struggling with a global shortage of microchips.”
This project is aimed at developing new characterization methods to support the growth of silicon wafers used in the semiconductor industry. A joint undertaking with Finnish silicon wafer makers Okmetic, the project expects to deliver new methods for the characterization of production wafers and to make redundant the need for separate monitor wafers.
The main focus will be on the characterization of electrical parameters such as wafer resistivity. The results of the project will benefit not only the partner business but the Finnish semiconductor industry more widely. Ultimately the aim is to develop a new tool that can help the science community achieve breakthroughs that extend beyond the semiconductor industry.
Professor Clare Strachan’s project sheds new light on the surface structures of pharmaceuticals
Project title:
Enlightening surfaces of pharmaceuticals and their impact on product performance and patient safety (SurfacePharma)
Approved funding:
156 594 €
Applicant:
University of Helsinki
Industrial partner:
Orion Corporation Oy
“My research area is pharmaceutical spectroscopy, which shares key research and development goals with pharmaceutical companies. I and my research team can offer new solutions to the challenges surfacing in the pharmaceuticals industry, particularly with regard to the development of drug dosage forms. This benefits not only industry but also patients and society more widely. I’m expecting that the time I spend with Orion Pharma will add to my understanding of industrial drug development processes, which supports the efforts of my research team and also benefits our project partners.”
This joint project with the Finnish pharmaceutical company Orion addresses a knowledge gap regarding the surface structures of pharmaceuticals in drug development. These surface structures determine how well the drug is dissolved and absorbed into circulation. Indeed, solubility is an ongoing interest and challenge in the pharmaceutical industry, and there is an urgent need to better understand the surface structures of pharmaceuticals.
This project will make use of new, cutting-edge spectroscopic methods and imaging technologies that will help improve the surface structures of drug particles under development. An improved understanding of the surface structures of pharmaceuticals will contribute to improving the therapeutic effectiveness of drugs, reduce the number of drug development failures and strengthen patient safety.
Professor Jari Hyväluoma’s project explores the effects of organic soil improvement materials on the structure of arable soils
Project title:
Impacts of fibre-based organic amendments on soil structure and functions
Approved funding:
136 380 €
Applicant:
Natural Resources Institute Finland
Industrial partner:
Soilfood Oy
“Partnering with business and industry is a logical and natural choice in my line of applied research – indeed, the distinction between applied and basic research often seems rather artificial in this field. The questions addressed in this project have surfaced in my discussions with the partner industry, but they are also relevant from a basic research point of view.”
Conducted in collaboration with the Finnish company Soilfood, this project investigates how soil improvement materials produced from side streams of the pulp and paper industry impact on the structure of arable soils. The research is based on 3D imaging, image analysis and image-based pore-scale flow simulations, which are used to quantify the structural changes seen in soil.
The depletion of soil organic matter is a global problem that has also been observed in Finnish arable soils. In addition to its climatic impacts, this trend is also having an adverse effect on soil fertility. The results of the project will benefit not only stakeholders in the agricultural sector, but also support efforts to improve soil carbon retention, reduce the burden of agriculture on waterways and improve crop yields from available arable land.
