Aim 5

Develop fast and scalable routes for chemical synthesis of antibiotics and their building blocks

Pandemics can impose a significant strain on the global supply chain, with profound implications for the manufacture of life-saving medicines (as with vaccine production during the COVID-19 pandemic). To strengthen the resilience of Canadian biomanufacturing to the future needs of the AMR pandemic, this project aims to develop efficient routes for local, on-demand synthesis of antibiotics.

Specifically, the team will use a state-of-the-art approach called “continuous flow organic synthesis”, in which chemical building blocks are pumped through a series of channels, which meet to facilitate sequential, inline chemical reactions. Reactants and products then continue to flow through downstream channels, as additional reactions proceed in series until the desired final product is generated.

This method of “flow synthesis” has several advantages – it is efficient, scalable, and importantly, can be monitored in real time throughout the reaction process. In this project, such inline reaction monitoring will be linked to AI-driven decision systems, which will analyze and adjust the flow apparatus, to fine-tune the reactions in real time. This active learning loop of reaction-monitoring, analysis, and optimization has the potential to streamline the synthetic process, improving our readiness to meet the research and production needs during a pandemic.