Testa Challenge 2024
Verify your technical or digital innovation in an industrial biomanufacturing innovation challenge!
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
We are thrilled to announce that application is now open for the Testa Challenge 2024 - Uppsala
Important dates
March 11, 2024 – Application period starts
April 30, 2024 – Application period will close at 23:59 CET
Until May 27, 2024 - Winner companies get notified
August 26, 2024 - Start of Testa Challenge 2024
Testa Challenge 2024
Testa Center, in collaboration with Cytiva, invites projects and companies from the Technology/Digital/Data sector to participate in the Testa Challenge 2024—an opportunity to integrate, test, and verify your innovations within a fully funded standard bioproduction workflow.
Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of groundbreaking technologies in bioproduction. By providing a platform for early evaluation, Testa Challenge 2024 encourages participants to assess the applicability and success of their innovations within the industry.
Throughout the challenge, participants will have access to state-of-the-art facilities and expert guidance, ensuring that your innovation receives the support it deserves.
Don't miss your chance to be part of this transformative experience. The challenge will run for three weeks starting August 26th, 2024, at Testa Center in Uppsala, Sweden.
Apply now and take the opportunity to showcase your innovation and make a lasting impact on the world of bioprocessing.
The Testa Challenge bioproduction workflow
The Testa Challenge 2024 follows an industry standard procedure for producing monoclonal antibodies, aimed at generating intermediate materials for antibody drug conjugate (ADC) applications. The process involves several key steps:
1. Monoclonal antibody (mAb) production with CHO cells through a fed-batch process in a single-use bioreactor (SUB)
2. Clarification of CHO culture using depth filtration
3. Isolation and purification of the produced mAb with an affinity chromatography step followed by an additional polishing step to reduce impurities
4. The quality of the produced, purified monoclonal antibody (mAb) will be assessed using various analytical techniques This process ensures the production of high-quality intermediate materials suitable for ADC applications.
For further information on details and specifications about the process, please download the documents provided.
Information and application
Call for proposal
Activity schedule Testa Challenge 2024
Testa Challenge 2024 process
Application Form - Testa Challenge
Why verify in an industrial bioprocess environment?
Biological drugs and products are transforming medicine and promise future targeted treatments for a range of conditions. However, for these powerful products to benefit all people in the world, new technologies and tools that can drastically improve productivity of biological production are needed. New methods, processes and approaches are required to accelerate innovation in this area.
We know that there are countless promising technologies out there. We also know that, as a young technology developing company, it can be a significant threshold to get access to a relevant industrial verification environment. Testa Challenge was created to address this gap.
If you are curious about the selected projects in the previous Testa Challenges, you can learn more here.
Who can apply?
The call is open for startups, academic research groups, companies, and institutes globally.
Testa Center is situated in Uppsala, Sweden, where the experiments will be performed. We expect the selected projects to actively participate in various planning activates prior to the Testa Challenge Weeks as well as on site during parts of the weeks.
If you have any questions about your application, please do not hesitate to contact us for support.
What type of solutions and projects can apply?
Proposed projects need to fit in the scope of the described bioprocess above or relatively easily be integrated into the workflow. It can be a solution for any stage in the bioprocess, from preparation and planning to the actual culture cultivation, harvest, and downstream activities such as separation and purification.
The accepted Technical Readiness Levels (TRL) of your technology is from TRL 3 up to TRL 9 where the latter is product on the market. For details on TRLs, please refer to the application form below. Data from lab/bench-tests is to be included in the application, to assess whether a full-scale bioproduction workflow is applicable at the current stage of your technology.