Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A)  announced Christoph Herwig has been selected to receive a prestigious Agilent Thought Leader Award. A prominent researcher in the field of bioprocess technology, Christoph Herwig is a Professor of Biochemical Engineering at TU Wien, Vienna, Austria.

Prof. Herwig’s work focuses on developing end-to-end scientific workflows in bioprocess technology. His interdisciplinary approach aims to generate a holistic process control strategy, including LC/MS process analytical technology (PAT) solutions to determine critical quality attributes (CQAs) directly and in real time. His group also concentrates on establishing "digital twins" – data-rich virtual copies of physical processes – which, together with continuous PAT measurements, will enable real-time state estimation and auto-feedback control of the bioprocess.

Bioprocess digital twins are an exciting new technology that changes how researchers do bioprocess development, process validation, and cGMP operations. Digital twins organize bioprocess development, can suggest experimental designs, and manage new knowledge, which dramatically cuts process development costs and accelerate commercialization by combining previous platform knowledge to predict future process results. Smart, automated bioprocessing including digital twins is becoming an important topic within the fast-growing biopharmaceutical industry.

“I feel very honored to receive this prestigious award, and I thank Agilent for their innovative mindset of future bioprocess design! Moreover, I am certain that our collaboration in this interdisciplinary field of PAT and digital twins possesses disruptive potential to deliver high-quality, yet affordable, drugs for the world,” said Prof. Herwig.

“It is a great pleasure to grant Prof. Herwig this Agilent Thought Leader Award,” said Stefan Schuette, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Liquid Phase Separations Division and executive sponsor of the award. “Collaborating with leading experts on advancing bioprocessing to the next, smart, and automated level is a great privilege. With this award, Agilent supports the development of  important innovations to help the fast-growing biopharmaceutical industry develop new drugs faster and with higher quality.”

The Agilent Thought Leader Award program promotes fundamental scientific advances by contributing financial support, products, and expertise to the research of influential thought leaders in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis space. To learn more, visit the Agilent Thought Leader Award website.