Mickey Vande Voorde
Senior Associate Scientist - Upstream Process Development Pfizer
Mickey Vande Voorde is a Senior Associate Scientist in Upstream Process Development at Pfizer. He specializes in optimizing and scaling enzymatic processes to support vaccine production, including the tech transfer of these processes to international manufacturing sites. Mickey leads upstream efforts for exploratory clinical trial manufacturing, advancing viral vaccine development, and oversees the transfer of microbial pDNA fermentations to clinical manufacturing facilities. Since joining Pfizer in 2021, he has contributed to cutting-edge vaccine process development, driving innovations that enhance production efficiency.
Seminars
DNA serves as a foundational component across multiple therapeutic modalities, from templates for mRNA and viral vectors to raw materials for cell and gene therapies. Designing DNA with downstream processing in mind is critical to ensure scalability, product quality, and regulatory compliance. This workshop will explore key design and process considerations that influence DNA manufacturability, purity, and functional performance. Participants will examine how DNA sequence design, synthesis methods, and process architecture affect subsequent purification and formulation steps across different therapeutic platforms.
Join this workshop to:
- Explore design factors (vector architecture, sequence composition, size, and topology) that DNA processability and downstream behavior
- Select the right capture method: comparing resin based, HIC and affinity techniques across modalities
- Evaluate the interplay between DNA quality attributes (supercoiling, residuals, impurities) and product performance in various modalities
- Discuss emerging technologies for scalable DNA manufacturing, from enzymatic synthesis to continuous downstream platforms
- Enabling rapid, scalable cell-free DNA template production for mRNA manufacturing through closed-end DNA (ceDNA) technology
- Achieving mRNA of similar quality to traditional plasmid DNA template methods with ceDNA templates
- Generating starting templates, selecting process raw materials, and purifying ceDNA as key steps for ensuring high DNA and mRNA quality
