Pfizer Analytical Research Centre (PARC) – Pharmaceutical Analysis for the New Millenia - Faculty of Science, Engineering & Technology

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Pfizer Analytical Research Centre (PARC) – Pharmaceutical Analysis for the New Millenia

External Collaborators / Partners	Pfizer Global Research and Development (UK and USA), Thermo Fisher Scientific (previously Dionex)
UTAS Collaborators	School of Chemistry
Funding Source	Pfizer Global Research and Development and an ARC Linkage Grant, LPLP0884030
Project Status	Current

Summary

Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, has established a collaborative research centre entitled the “Pfizer Analytical Research Centre” (PARC), at The University of Tasmania. Research targets innovation and productivity in Pharmaceutical Analytical Sciences. The UTAS PARC, which commenced in 2007, complements a similar PARC established at Ghent University, Belgium in 2003. These two PARC facilities operate in a synergistic and collaborative manner with the overall aim of bringing consumer pharmaceuticals to the marketplace earlier.

The collaboration creates a centre of excellence for the development of novel pharmaceutical analytical methods by combining the expertise of the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) with that of Pfizer scientists. This multi-million dollar centre brings economic and financial gain to both UTAS and to the State of Tasmania. Both the University of Tasmania, through the establishment of a dedicated laboratory and office area, and the Tasmanian State Government, through the provision of fee-exemption scholarships for overseas doctorate students, have financially supported the establishment of this centre at UTAS to the tune of approximately $1.1m. The centre employs 14 staff and students undertaking a variety of research projects.

PARC is a multidisciplinary collaboration which aims to generate high-throughput, faster, and smarter analytical systems for pharmaceutical analysis and drug discovery, to introduce novel approaches to pharmaceutical analysis, such as green chromatography, and to advance innovative ideas and concepts for analytical work into the 21st century. Each Pfizer project involves researchers at UTAS along with Pfizer scientists located in the UK and US.

Description

Research in PARC targets innovation and productivity in the pharmaceutical analytical sciences. The aim is to produce advancements in the analysis of pharmaceuticals through high-throughput, faster, and smarter analytical systems, thereby allowing these products to be brought to the marketplace earlier and in a more cost effective and ‘green’ manner.

The PARC multidisciplinary collaboration creates a centre of excellence for the development of novel pharmaceutical analytical methods by combining the expertise of ACROSS with that of world-leading scientists from Pfizer. Pfizer, through a $3.5m investment via the Australian Government’s Pharmaceuticals Partnership Program (P3), supports the salaries and stipends of the research staff and students, purchase of equipment and running costs for the projects. UTAS has contributed $850k for the construction of a state-of-the-art, world-standard, purpose-built laboratory comprising 450 m² of instrumental bench and office space. The Tasmanian State Government, through the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, has contributed $267k for scholarships for the recruitment of international PhD students.

Researchers at work in the world-class, purpose-built PARC research facility Personnel includes: a Director; Deputy Director; 4 post-doctoral fellows; 3 research higher degree (PhD) students; and contributions from 5 current ACROSS staff.

Projects within PARC are:

Simulation of ion-exchange separations of pharmaceutical compounds
Miniaturisation of the Bioanalytical Process
High Performance ion-exchange Stationary Phases for Biomolecules
Development of Immobilized Enzyme Monoliths for Sample Preparation and Analysis of Glycans
Non-discriminatory, Universal and Sensitive Detection Technologies for Fluid based Separation Techniques in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Chromatographic Analysis of Combination Drug Products using Mixed-Mode Stationary Phases
Development of analytical methodology for conjugated vaccines
New Materials for Dried Blood Spots

Research Output

Nordborg, AMM and Hilder, EF, ‘Recent advances in polymer monoliths for ion-exchange chromatography’, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 394 (1) pp. 71-84. ISSN 1618-2642 (2009)

Nordborg, AMM and Zhang, B and He, XZ and Hilder, EF and Haddad, PR, ‘Characterization of monoclonal antibodies using polymeric cation exchange monoliths in combination with salt and pH gradients’, Journal of Separation Science, 32 (15-16) pp. 2668-2673. ISSN 1615-9306 (2009)

Saunders, KC and Ghanem, A and Hon, W and Hilder, EF and Haddad, PR, ‘Separation and sample pre-treatment in bioanalysis using monolithic phases: A review’, Analytica Chimica Acta, 652 (1-2) pp. 22-31. ISSN 0003-2670 (2009)

Zakaria, P and Dicinoski, GW and Ng, BK and Shellie, RA and Hanna-Brown, M and Haddad, PR, ‘Application of retention modelling to the simulation of separation of organic anions in suppressed ion chromatography’, The Journal of Chromatography A, 1216 (38) pp. 6600-6610. ISSN 0021-9673 (2009)

Hutchinson, JP and Li, J and Farrell, W and Groeber, E and Szucs, R and Dicinoski, GW and Haddad, PR, ‘Universal response model for a corona charged aerosol detector ’, The Journal of Chromatography A, 1217 (47) pp. 7418-7427. ISSN 0021-9673 (2010)

Zakaria, P and Dicinoski, GW and Hanna-Brown, M and Haddad, PR, ‘Prediction of the effects of methanol and competing ion concentration on retention in the ion chromatographic separation of anionic and cationic pharmaceutically related compounds’, The Journal of Chromatography A, 1217 (39) pp. 6069-6076. ISSN 0021-9673 (2010)

Nordborg, AMM and Hilder, EF and Haddad, PR, ‘Monolithic phases for ion chromatography’, Annual review of analytical chemistry, 4 pp. 197-226. ISSN 1936-1335 (2011)

Mauko, L and Pelzing, M and Dolman, S and Nordborg, AMM and Lacher, NA and Haddad, PR and Hilder, EF, ‘Zwittertonic-type hydrophilic interaction nano-liquid chromatography of complex and high mannose glycans couples with elecrospray ionisation high resolution time of flight mass spectrometry’, The Journal of Chromatography A, 1218 (37) pp. 6419-6425 . ISSN 0021-9673 (2011)

Mauko, L and Nordborg, AMM and Hutchinson, JP and Lacher, NA and Hilder, EF and Haddad, PR, ‘Glycan profiling of monoclonal antibodies using zwitterionic-type hydrophilic interaction chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry detection’, Analytical Biochemistry: Methods in The Biological Sciences, 408 (2) pp. 235-241. ISSN 0003-2697 (2011)

Karu, N and Dicinoski, GW and Hanna-Brown, M and Haddad, PR, ‘Determination of pharmaceutically related compounds by suppressed ion chromatography: I. Effects of organic solvent on suppressor performance’, The Journal of Chromatography A, 1218 (50) pp. 9037-9045. ISSN 0021-9673 (2011)

Karu, N and Dicinoski, GW and Hanna-Brown, M and Haddad, PR, ‘Determination of pharmaceutically related compounds by suppressed ion chromatography: II. Interactions of analytes with the suppressor’, The Journal of Chromatography A, 1224 (1) pp. 35-42. ISSN 0021-9673 (2011)

Candish, E., Haddad, P.R., Hilder, E.F., Nesterenko, P.N., Dicinoski, G.W., Development of New Media for Dried Blood Spotting for the Pharmaceutical Industry, Australian Provisional Patent - Number: 2010900064, filed on the 8th of January 2010).