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Are you ready to simplify bioprocess development and scale with confidence to reduce time to market?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the complexity and guesswork of biologics development and biomanufacturing?
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There's a way to simplify and streamline so you can remove complexity, skip trials and errors, deliver your groundbreaking therapy to clinics and market without delay, and still enjoy every single step.
I'm David Brühlmann, a biotech entrepreneur and strategic advisor who partners with C-level biopharma leaders to tackle one of our industry's biggest challenges: reducing manufacturing costs to make lifesaving therapies accessible to more patients worldwide.
Through engaging conversations with industry pioneers and practical insights from the trenches, this podcast tackles the critical challenges in bioprocess CMC development and manufacturing of recombinant proteins and cell and gene therapy products. We cut through the complexity so you can:
- Master bioprocess development with confidence and clarity
- Excel at scale-up and manufacturing of biologics
- Transform your innovative therapy and manufacturing technology into market-ready solutions faster
- Optimize manufacturing costs without compromising quality
- Make data-driven decisions that reduce the risk of failure
I can’t wait to help you do biotech the smart way.
Grab a cup of coffee and your favorite notebook and pen. Now is the time to take your bioprocessing game to the next level.
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Smart Biotech Scientist | Master Bioprocess CMC Development, Biologics Manufacturing & Scale-up, Cell Culture Innovation
217: Silkworm Biomanufacturing: From Ancient Silk Production to Phase I Vaccine Trials with Masafumi Osawa - Part 1
For over 4,000 years, silkworms have connected civilizations through ancient trade routes. Now, KAICO Ltd., a Japanese biotech spin-off from Kyushu University, is transforming these creatures into living bioreactors capable of producing complex recombinant proteins and vaccine antigens—without the bioreactors, expensive media, or massive water consumption of conventional platforms.
Masafumi Osawa, Business Development Lead at KAICO, brings an unconventional path to biotech. Trained in cultural anthropology with fieldwork experience in Indonesia, he witnessed firsthand the healthcare disparities that drive his current mission. After years in pharmaceutical business development at Towa Pharmaceutical, he joined KAICO to help scale a technology he believes could reshape global vaccine accessibility. His cross-cultural expertise now proves invaluable as KAICO expands internationally, with active partnerships in Vietnam and Thailand and growing interest from other regions.
Episode highlights:
- Masafumi’s transition from anthropology to biotech, and how cross-cultural expertise benefits global health collaborations. (04:15)
- The founding story of KAICO, spun out from Kyushu University and focused on recombinant proteins and vaccine antigen production (08:45)
- Step-by-step overview of the silkworm baculovirus expression system, including pupae handling and bioprocessing basics. (10:28)
- Practical differences between silkworms, E. coli, mammalian, and insect cell culture platforms—exploring advantages and drawbacks. (13:10)
- Strategies KAICO uses to control silkworm variability, including SPF grade sourcing, diet, environment, and documentation for pharmaceutical acceptance. (15:08)
- Production scalability: a single pupa can match 100–1000 ml of insect cell culture, with major implications for cost and environmental footprint. (16:42)
- Downstream harvesting and purification—how KAICO extracts and processes proteins from silkworm pupae, keeping methods largely familiar to traditional systems. (19:31)
- Regulatory and GMP challenges of using live organisms, and KAICO’s approach to satisfying authorities and ensuring product consistency. (21:43)
Whether you’re curious about alternative biomanufacturing methods or want a transparent look at silkworm-based protein expression from research to the clinic, this episode delivers practical insights and thoughtful discussion.
Connect with Masafumi Osawa:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/masa-osawa
KAICO Ltd.: www.kaicoltd.jp/en
Next step:
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