Bioprocessing Summit Europe 2026
InterContinental Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
10–12 March 2026
Bioprocessing Summit Europe brings together 550+ professionals from industry and academia, along with 60+ exhibitors, to advance the manufacture, quality, and control of cutting-edge biologics, genetic therapies, peptides, and oligonucleotides. This year introduced a new dedicated track on Peptide and Oligo Manufacturing, focusing on the vast potential for “-tides” and routes to scaling their manufacturing.
Presenter
Helena Franwood PhD
VP of Corporate Development & Strategy
We presented
Biomanufacturing Therapeutic Peptides at Scale with an Expanded Genetic Code
Genetic code expansion enables the scalable biomanufacture of peptides and proteins that incorporate multiple different non-canonical amino acids at defined positions.
Today’s advanced peptide therapeutics increasingly rely on chemistries beyond the 20 canonical amino acids to achieve exceptional pharmacological functions. Until now, manufacture of these peptides has relied on chemical methods requiring large quantities of solvents like DMF (average 13,000 kg of waste per kg of peptide, of which more than 50% is organic solvents). This talk outlined how genetic code expansion enables the scalable biomanufacture of peptides and proteins that incorporate multiple different non-canonical amino acids at defined positions, without extensive solvent use.
Key takeaways
- Peptides are valuable therapeutics, today appearing the forefront with semaglutide, tirzepatide and a strong pipeline in development.
- Solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) has got us so far, but struggles with vast waste generation at scale (notably process mass intensity (PMI) and poor atom economy) and yield losses for long peptides.
- Biological / recombinant peptide production is a scalable, cost-effective method for peptide manufacturing but historically could not accept non-canonical chemistries.
As quoted from here Greening the synthesis of peptide therapeutics: an industrial perspective: “In the longer term, the development of a completely new platform for the synthesis of peptides, which would utilize raw materials with lower environmental impact, is attractive.”