Prof. Alan Dickson
University of Manchester

Hosts: Renate Kunert, Nicole Borth

Prof Alan Dickson works in the area of mammalian cell bioprocessing, and has collaborations in the area of production of biologics with many UK and multinational companies. Alan is primarily a molecular cellular biologist and working with industrial partners has developed approaches to enhance mammalian cell expression platforms during industrial scale-up. A recent example was the development of a metabolic profiling platform with interpretation/modelling programmes that define correlations between cellular performance and physiological status. He holds a number of external positions (member of the BBSRC Panel of Experts, the Steering Group of the BBSRC Bioprocessing Research Industry Club (BRIC) and the Scientific Advisory Board of bioProcessUK and until 2015 was one of the elected members on the Executive Committee of the European Society for Animal Cell Technology [ESACT]). Alan is Director of the Centre of Excellence in Biopharmaceuticals (CoEBP; http:///www.coebp.ls.manchester.ac.uk) at the University of Manchester. The Centre has brought more that 40 researchers from biological, chemical, engineering and physical backgrounds across the University together to develop teams capable of applying novel approaches to challenges of production of biologics. The CoEBP promotes industrial-academic linkages and provides access to research technologies including high-throughput and high- content cell culture robotics. Alan is also Co-Director of BioProNET (http://www.biopronetuk.org), part of the recent Industrial Biotechnology initiative funded by the UK Research Councils and Government to promote and direct industrial-academic interactions in production of biologics.