Dr.-Ing. Sven Göbel honored with the DECHEMA Industrial Bioprocess Award
Optimization of production processes for manufacturing viruses for cancer therapy
Oncolytic viruses are considered a new therapeutic approach to fighting cancer. Dr.-Ing. Sven Göbel, alumnus of the Bioprocess Engineering research group at the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg, dealt with the characterization, optimization and intensification of bioreactor processes for the production of oncolytic viruses in his dissertation. In May 2025, he was honored with the DECHEMA Industrial Bioprocess Award 2025 for his outstanding research work.
Oncolytic viruses are regarded to be a new approach in cancer therapy. In addition to conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy, they are used to treat cancer. These viruses are able to specifically infect and destroy cancer cells without attacking healthy cells.
One of the many hurdles for the development of such therapies is the large quantity of viruses required per dose. Scientists from the Bioprocess Engineering research group at the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg are therefore working on the development and optimization of effective, scalable production processes for so-called oncolytic viruses.
In his dissertation entitled “Production of a fusogenic oncolytic virus: In-depth process development and process intensification”, Dr.-Ing. Sven Göbel dealt with the characterization, optimization and intensification of bioreactor processes for the production of oncolytic viruses. In May 2025, he was awarded the DECHEMA Industrial Bioprocess Award 2025 for his outstanding research work.
This prize is awarded by the industrial members of the DECHEMA e.V. Bioprocess Engineering Section. It honors doctoral theses that have made an industrially profound contribution to bioprocess engineering.
Sven Göbel received the award at the DECHEMA Himmelfahrtstagung on Bioprocess Engineering 2025, which took place in Bremen from May 26 to 28, 2025..
About Dr.-Ing. Sven Göbel
Sven Göbel holds a Bachelor’s (B.Sc.) and Master’s (M.Sc.) degree from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He completed his Ph.D. in bioprocess engineering at the Max Planck Institute in Magdeburg, Germany, focusing on the characterization, optimization, and intensification of bioreactor processes for the production of viral vectors, recombinant subunit vaccines, and oncolytic viruses in collaboration with academic and industrial partners.
Following his Ph.D., Sven Göbel continued as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute, where he worked on the development and scale-up of integrated production processes for clinical-grade oncolytic viruses.
In April 2025, he joined the Bioprocess Technology Laboratory at FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, at location in Basel, where his research focuses on developing integrated continuous AAV manufacturing processes and implementing process analytical technologies such as Raman and infrared spectroscopy.
DECHEMA Industrial Bioprocess Award
The DECHEMA Industrial Bioprocess Award honors young scientists who have made industrially relevant contributions to bioprocess engineering during their PhD. It is awarded for the 8th time, supported by the industrial members of DECHEMA’s Bioprocess Engineering Group, and endowed with €5,000.
DECHEMA working party “Bioprocess Engineering” focuses on the biotechnical production of fine and bulk chemicals as well as biopharmaceuticals with the help of enzymes, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The topics cover the entire spectrum of modern bioprocess engineering: from genes to products; from µL to production scale; from upstream to downstream.