Dr Zolt谩n Kis
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor)
Full contact details
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
G58
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
91直播
S1 3JD
- Profile
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I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at 91直播, and an Honorary Lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London.
I am leading a multidisciplinary team that is innovating and digitalising RNA vaccine and therapeutics production platform technologies. My work is addressing the challenges of producing large volumes of RNA-based vaccines and therapeutics, rapidly, at high quality and at low cost in a disease-agnostic manner.
I previously worked as a Research Associate in the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub at Imperial College London. I obtained my Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Imperial College London, UK, hold an M.Sc. in Applied Biotechnology and a B.Eng. in Chemical with Biochemical Engineering.
- Research interests
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Our exciting research combines experimental and computational modelling techniques to innovate RNA vaccine and therapeutics production multi-product platform processes. On the experimental front, we are developing, intensifying and scaling up continuous mRNA enzymatic synthesis, purification and formulation processes, alongside developing bespoke manufacturing equipment. Our modelling work streamlines process development and deploys software-based sensors and digital twins for monitoring and automating multi-product mRNA manufacturing. Our work is embedded into the Quality-by-Digital-Design framework and follows techno-economic considerations. Our efforts will enable the rapid development and mass manufacturing of high-quality mRNA vaccines/therapeutics at low costs against a wide range of diseases.
Key research areas include:
- Experimental mRNA vaccine and RNA therapeutics manufacturing process development: process intensification, continuous manufacturing and scale-up.
- Development and optimisation of continuous in vitro transcription (IVT) reaction for mRNA synthesis, continuous mRNA downstream purification processes based on continuous chromatography and tangential flow filtration unit operations, as well as continuous LNP formulation unit operations.
- Development of new unit operations and design of process equipment for mRNA manufacturing.
- Process digitalisation: development of soft sensors and digital twins to monitor and control the manufacturing of RNA vaccines, RNA therapeutics and other biopharmaceuticals.
- Techno-economic modelling for reducing the costs, increasing production rates and increasing production volumes of RNA vaccines, RNA therapeutics and other biopharmaceuticals.
- Quality by Digital Design for consistently ensuring product quality, support scale-up, technology transfer, and for accelerating the regulatory approval process.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- . Biotechnology Journal, 19(11).
- . Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, 102333-102333.
- . Digital Discovery.
- . Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 11.
- . Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 121(6), 1912-1926.
- . Vaccines, 12(2), 158-158.
- . Methods Mol Biol, 2786, 339-364.
- . Vaccine.
- . Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 18(2), 119-127.
- . Vaccine Insights, 01(04), 219-233.
- . Vaccines, 10(7).
- . Molecular Pharmaceutics, 19(6), 1892-1905.
- . Trends in Biotechnology.
- . Energy Storage Materials, 48, 412-438.
- . npj Vaccines, 7(1).
- . Pharmaceutics, 14(2).
- . Vaccines, 9(12).
- . npj Vaccines, 6(1).
- Enhancing vaccine platforms : computational models accelerate development, manufacturing, and distribution. BioProcess International.
- . Vaccines, 9(1).
- . Journal of Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, 2(3).
- . Journal of Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, 1(3).
- . Biotechnology Journal, 14(7), 1-2.
- . Biotechnology Journal, 14(1).
- . Water, 10(9).
- . Energy Policy, 120, 144-157.
- . Viruses, 10(6).
- . Viruses, 9(10).
- . Scientific Reports, 6(1).
- . Physiological Reports, 4(6), e12673-e12673.
- . Nature, 524(7563), 97-101.
- . Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 12(106), 20141000-20141000.
- . Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 22(5), 570-577.
- . Atherosclerosis, 237(2), e14-e14.
- . Eurosurveillance, 19(40).
- . FEBS Letters, 586(15), 2164-2170.
- . Journal of Sulfur Chemistry, 31(1), 27-39.
- . Intervirology, 52(1), 17-21.
- . Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids, 80(1), 33-42.
- . International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, NA-NA.
- . Journal of Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, 12(10), 1096-1099.
- . Inflammation Research, 57(6), 287-295.
- . FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, 52(3), 324-334.
- . Inflammation Research, 56(9), 362-367.
- . Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 11, 1504876.
- . The AAPS Journal, 26(2).
- . International Journal of Technology, 13(8), 1630-1630.
- . Vaccines, 9(3), 205-205.
- . PLOS ONE, 10(2), e0116816-e0116816.
- . PLoS ONE, 8(7), e68522-e68522.
- . Dalton Trans., 39(6), 1464-1466.
Chapters
- , Computer Aided Chemical Engineering (pp. 2167-2172). Elsevier
- , Computer Aided Chemical Engineering (pp. 1633-1638). Elsevier
- , Natural Bio-active Compounds (pp. 127-146). Springer Singapore
- An In situ electroporation and flow device for mechanotransduction studies, Microarrays: Principles, Applications and Technologies (pp. 49-67).
Preprints
- Research group
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For the latest info on our research and team, please visit our .
- Grants
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Date
Funder
Role
Title
Funding amount
1 Oct 2024
鈥&苍产蝉辫;
30 Sep 2027
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations () Principal Investigator 拢3.7 million
(US $4. 8 million)May 2024 鈥&苍产蝉辫;
May 2026
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). BB/Y007514/1. .
Co-Investigator
Electrospun mucoadhesive matrices for polymersome-mediated mRNA vaccine delivery
拢1.72 million
Nov 2023
鈥
Nov 2028
UK Department of Health and Social Care and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Co-Investigator UK-south-east Asia-vaccine manufacturing research hub 拢7.6 million Oct 2023 鈥
Oct 2025
Innovate UK.
Principal Investigator
拢2 million
7 June 2023
BBSRC
Co-Investigator
NanoAnalyzer: An emerging technology to analyse life at the nanoscale
拢242,400
20 October 2022.
BBSRC Doctoral Training (CDT/DTC/DTP).
Co-Supervisor
iCASE PhD studentship with AstraZeneca Plc
拢84,000
March 2022.
ESPRC Doctoral Training Partnership
Co-Supervisor
iCASE PhD studentship with RedShift BioAnalytics, Inc.
拢130,200
Dec 2021 鈥
Jul 2022
United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF)
Co-Investigator
Innovating the process of RNA vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing 鈥 building external partnerships and exploring commercialisation opportunities
拢74,331
Dec 2021 鈥
Oct 2024
Principal Investigator
Digitalised, small-scale and high-throughput process for distributed and automated RNA production for therapy and pandemic preparedness.
Multi-million USD (confidential)
2020-2022
UKRI, EPSRC, EP/V01479X/1
Co-applicant
Meeting the UK demand for COVID19/SARS-CoV-2 vaccines via integrated manufacturing and supply chain optimisation
拢448,148
2020-2022
Wellcome Innovator Award
Co-applicant
A pathway to a live-attenuated whole parasite malaria vaccine.
拢727,458
2020-2021
Kidney Research UK. Paediatric Innovation Grant Award
Co-Investigator
Cell catcher: developing a new method for cell isolation and preservation from urine samples of Bardet-Biedl Syndrome patients
拢40,000
- Teaching activities
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- I am a Fellow of the and I am passionate about teaching and training the next generation of chemical and biological engineers.
- I am supervising and co-supervising the PhD projects in the field of mRNA production, purification, formulation and analysis in our research team.
- I am teaching the following modules: 1) CPE336-CPE6043, Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing, 3rd Year UG & M.Sc., Module Leader & Lecturer 2) BIE103 Introduction to Bioengineering, 1st Year UG, Lecturer
- Professional activities and memberships
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- July 2019 鈥 Present. American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Postdoctoral Member.
- Nov 2018 鈥 Present. Institution of Chemical Engineers, London (IChemE), U.K., Professional Member.
- June 2018 鈥 Present. European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB).
- June 2018 鈥 Present. European Biotechnology Network (EBN).
- June 2018 鈥 Present. Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN).
- May 2018 鈥 Present. The Network in Bioprocessing (BioProNET), a BBSRC Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy co-sponsored by EPSRC (U.K. based).
- May 2018 鈥 Present. The Food Waste Network (FoodWasteNet), a BBSRC Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (U.K. based).
- April 2018 鈥 Present. Vaccine Research Network (VRN) at Imperial College London.
- March 2012 鈥 Present. European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
- February 2012 鈥 Present. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
- November 2010 鈥 Present. European Association for Cancer Research (EACR).
I am regularly invited to speak at scientific and industry conferences, and to advise policy experts, non-governmental organisations and companies. For example, I provided consultancy on techno-economic modelling to the WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Hub. I sit on the Sanofi mRNA CMC Advisory Board and the Pfizer mRNA Technology Advisory Board.
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