Department of Chemical Engineering
Lead Staff partner(s): Prof Cleo Kontoravdi
Student partner(s): Euen Ho
Project area: Curriculum Development
Background for project
The project involves designing a reactor control implementation strategy in Python. The reactor in question will focus on the enzymatic synthesis of RNA vaccines where the yield is a key performance indicator for meeting demand, while the amount of double-stranded RNA is an unwanted impurity that affects vaccine quality. The topic itself is highly innovative, having been inspired by ongoing research in the Imperial Future Manufacturing Research Hub. The transition to Python aims to reduce student workloads by utilizing programming language that incoming students already have foundational experience with, reducing initial learning barrier. The open-source nature of Python provides different ways to design the reactor, offering flexibility and helping students develop high-order thinking skills. The project-based Python experience can be used to tackle portfolio projects outside of academic assignments to demonstrate capabilities to employers.
This project is due to run Summer 2026 – watch this space for outputs and outcomes!