Richard Wales, Ph.D., and Neil Bargh of Sartorius Honored as Recipients of 2022 ESACT Innovation Award for the Development of the Sartorius Ambr® Technology

Scientists recognized for their outstanding contributions in automated cell culture technologies to support clonal selection and process development for biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, and cell and gene therapies

GÖTTINGEN, Germany, June 28, 2022 / B3C newswire / -- Sartorius, a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry, is pleased to announce that Richard Wales, Ph.D., and Neal Bargh were named the 2022 ESACT Innovation Award winners at a ceremony at ESACT’s 27th annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. According to ESACT, the award recognizes outstanding innovators in the field of Animal Cell Culture Technology (ACCT) and highlights their landmark contributions and industry impact.

Wales and Bargh were notably instrumental in the development, design, and technical evolution of the Ambr® bioreactor systems, which closely mimic production bioreactors and which have been widely adopted by the biopharmaceutical industry worldwide to accelerate process development, enhance process understanding and bring lifesaving biotherapeutics to the marketplace faster.

Wales, with a Ph.D. in molecular biology, has been with Sartorius since 2013. Prior to joining Sartorius, in 2001, he began his involvement with the identification and development of integrated automated systems in cell culture, protein purification and vial filling including the Ambr® products.

“It is a true honor to be selected for this prestigious award. It comes from an organization led and supported by the scientists and technologists we hoped to serve with the platform, and as such, is deeply meaningful to us,” said Wales. “Within Sartorius, we continue to apply the principles we established on the Ambr® 15 development project in a range of innovative programs underway across our portfolio.”

He continued, “As development scientists and engineers, we strive to provide products that make a real difference to our customers, and for us, the Ambr® 15 and this award, will remain a benchmark.”

Bargh, with a master’s in engineering, joined Sartorius in 2013 and has been instrumental in the development of Ambr® 15, Ambr® 250 HT, Ambr® 250 Modular, and Ambr® Crossflow. “We were driven to accelerate process development for our partners and assist in bringing lifesaving biotherapeutics to market more efficiently,” he said. “It brings me immense satisfaction to know that the Ambr® systems have been adopted so widely across the world and I feel very honored that Richard and I have been selected for the ESACT Innovation Award.”

Wales added, “Our chief goal was to develop products that contribute to our customers’ success in developing medicines that make a difference to people globally, and with the Ambr® platform, that goal has been realized.”

Wales and Bargh, selected by ESACT Executive Committee members after careful nomination evaluation, received the award at the ESACT bi-annual Scientific Meeting on June 26. The award was established in 2018 and the inaugural honor was presented to Dr. Volker Sandig, M.D, Ph.D., of ProBioGen AG at the 2019 ESACT meeting in Copenhagen.

Caption: Richard Wales, Ph.D.

Caption: Neil Bargh

For high resolution please click the images.

About Sartorius 
The Sartorius Group is a leading international partner of life science research and the biopharmaceutical industry. With innovative laboratory instruments and consumables, the Group’s Lab Products & Services Division concentrates on serving the needs of laboratories performing research and quality control at pharma and biopharma companies and those of academic research institutes. The Bioprocess Solutions Division with its broad product portfolio focusing on single-use solutions helps customers to manufacture biotech medications and vaccines safely and efficiently. The Group has been annually growing by double digits on average and has been regularly expanding its portfolio by acquisitions of complementary technologies. In fiscal 2021, the company earned sales revenue of some 3.45 billion euros according to preliminary figures. At the end of 2021, nearly 14,000 people were employed at the Group’s approximately 60 manufacturing and sales sites, serving customers around the globe. Follow Sartorius on Twitter @Sartorius_Group and on LinkedIn.

Contact

Buck McKay
Media Relations Manager BPS
BPSTradeMedia@Sartorius.com

Keywords: Awards and Prizes; Bioreactors; Batch Cell Culture Techniques; Vaccines; Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy; Genetic Therapy; Industry; Pharmaceutical Production; Manufacturing; Biological Science Disciplines; Biological Products; Commerce; Industry; Technology; Life Science; Biotechnology; Germany

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