Overview

A look back over the year at all the events we have done as a group. Thanks to the committee members and official notices. The benefits of networking and volunteering with an invitation to join us. A look forward to planned events for 2026.

A note from guest speaker Zoltán Kis

Our team is developing next-generation RNA manufacturing technologies that make mRNA production more efficient, sustainable, and digitally controlled. These innovations are being integrated into RNAbox™: a continuous, automated, closed “process-in-a-box” platform for rapid, disease-agnostic RNA vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing at high quality and low cost.

In this webinar, we will present two key advances:

1. an integrated in vitro transcription (IVT)–oligo(dT) chromatography process that enables direct recycling of unconsumed high-value reagents, achieving 2.3 fold cost reduction reductions while maintaining yield and improving mRNA quality
2. a real-time pH-based soft sensor that combines fiber-optic pH monitoring with kinetic and Henderson-Hasselbalch modelling to estimate RNA yield, NTP consumption, and buffering dynamics with R² > 0.9 accuracy and 25 ms update frequency.

Together, these advances enable self-optimising, digitally controlled, and resource-efficient RNA manufacturing, advancing the RNAbox™ vision for sustainable, scalable, and globally accessible RNA medicines.

Speaker

Zoltán Kis, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering, University of Sheffield

Zoltán is a senior lecturer (associate professor) at the School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield, and an honorary lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. He leads a multidisciplinary team developing and digitalising RNA vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing platforms, with the aim of enabling rapid, scalable, high-quality, and low-cost production in a disease-agnostic manner.

Previously, he was a research associate in the Future Vaccine Manufacturing Hub at Imperial College. He holds a PhD in Bioengineering from Imperial College London, an MSc in Applied Biotechnology, and a BEng in Chemical with Biochemical Engineering.

The material presented at this event has not been peer-reviewed. Any opinions are the presenter's own and do not necessarily represent those of IChemE or the Midlands Members Group. The information is given in good faith but without any liability on the part of IChemE.

Time

19:00–20:30 GMT.

Software