Question

What is downstream processing and upstream processing?

Answer 1

Downstream processing:

1. Downstream processing refers to the recovery and purification of biosynthetic products, particularly pharmaceuticals from natural sources such as animal or plant tissue or fermentation both including the recycling of salvageable components and the proper treatment and the disposal of waste.
2. Downstream processing is the process of isolation, purification, and separation of products from recombinant DNA technology (RDT).
3. This is an essential step in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics, hormones for example insulin and human growth hormone, antibodies for example infliximab and abciximab, and vaccines; and antibodies and enzymes are used in diagnostics; industrial enzymes and natural fragrance and flavor compounds.

Upstream processing:

1. The upstream process is an entire process from which the initial step or stage of cell isolation and the cultivation to the cell banking and the culture expansion of the cells until the final harvest.
2. An upstream part of the bioprocess is referred to as the first step or process in which the microbes or cells are to be grown, an example, bacterial or mammalian cell lines in the bioreactors.
3. In general, the upstream processing involves all those steps that are related to the inoculum development, media development, improvement of inoculum by genetic engineering process, and the optimization of growth kinetics so that the product development can improve tremendously.