MILFORD, Mass. & NEWARK, Del.– Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) and The University of Delaware announced the grand opening of Immerse™ Delaware, a new Waters innovation and research laboratory. As part of their multi-year research partnership announced in October 2021, the lab opening is the first step on a journey to collaborate with biopharma scientists both in industry and academia to advance industrial processes for making and characterizing biotherapeutics.
Located at the University of Delaware Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) campus, Immerse Delaware is a fully functional, fit-for-purpose, bioprocess laboratory enabling a dedicated focus on the entire manufacturing process from clone selection to quality control (QC) of drug substances. It will give students, faculty and industry researchers access to use and evaluate state-of-the-art analytical technologies from Waters as well as novel analytics, consumables and software that will enable the next generation of biotherapeutics.
“Our mission to address some of the biggest challenges in the development and manufacturing of biotherapeutics requires an immense amount of work, collaboration, and diversity of thought. Immerse Delaware will enable us to tap into an ecosystem of talent and expertise in biological manufacturing, coupled with Waters’ experience in analytical technologies, to advance and accelerate the delivery of high-quality medicines to patients,” said Dr. Udit Batra, President and CEO of Waters Corporation.
“As a research institution, the University of Delaware has a long history of advancing new discoveries and innovations that make our world safer, healthier and more vibrant,” said UD President Dennis Assanis. “Today, the Immerse Delaware partnership with Waters Corp. is another exciting opportunity to extend our research impact and continue building on our successes in educating the next generation of leaders in the field of biopharmaceutical manufacturing.”
Waters selected University of Delaware as a partner due to its leadership in chemical and biological manufacturing research as well its active support of and close proximity to the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), a collaborative effort amongst industry, academia, and regulators.
Notable attendees at the lab opening included: Dennis Assanis, PhD, President, University of Delaware; Udit Batra, PhD, President and CEO, Waters Corporation; Chai Gadde, CEO of BioTek reMEDys; Kelvin Lee, PhD, Director, NIIMBL and Gore Professor of Biomolecular Engineering; Levi Thompson, PhD, Dean, College of Engineering, University of Delaware; and Michael Flemming, President, Delaware Biosciences.
