Collaborators and Strategic Partners of the Flow Research Facility Portal

There are various methods of working with the Flow Research Facility of uOttawa. Depending on your need and our capability you will be guided to one of many R&D programs that we currently form on a case-by-case basis.

Table of Content
  • The Objective of Collaborations & Partnerships
  • The Methods
  • The Process
  • The Pros and the Cons of working with the Flow Research Facility of uOttawa
The Objective of Collaborations & Partnerships

The Flow Research Facility was founded in 2016 by Prof. Michael Organ of uOttawa with a vision to establish a continuous manufacturing research facility for academia and industries in Canada. Dr. Debasis Mallik joined the facility in 2018 with a mission to transform the facility from a consortium of flow manufacturing equipment to a state-of-the-art facility where new innovative tools that can be designed and manufactured with the engagement and expertise of the industry leaders. Fast forwarding almost six years, the facility currently collaborates globally with a number of major equipment manufacturers through various research programs under applicable confidentiality agreements on a case-by-case basis.

Currently Active Areas
  • Process Screening
    The facility is equipped with a host of decentralized state-of-the-art flow synthesis equipment, and fully programmable OEM pumps, valves, and other root-level flow synthesis tools to build standard or custom-tailored reactor assembly for screening single or multiple process attributes using as little as milligram quantities of raw materials. The facility is equipped with multi-attribute process analytical platforms using multi-dimensional inline, online, at-line, and offline automated PATs for high-throughput flow condition screening.
  • Process Intensification
    The facility uses automated process intensification platforms to optimize flow processes using multi-dimensional analytical PATs. The facility has exclusive control capabilities to custom-tailor its fluid management workflow in the online PATs to meet new asks.
  • Process Monitoring
    The facility is capable of connecting a process to a process analytic tool using standard or OEM-level customized robotic or manual sampling protocols. Notably, the facility is equipped with exclusive process sampling technologies that can handle a significant amount of solids or viscous materials from the flowing streams.
Areas of Expertise by Process Workflow
  • Continuous Feeding of Raw Materials and Process Control
  • Sampling
  • PAT
  • Remote Operation and IoT
  • Continuous Purification
  • Continuous Extraction of Process Output
Areas of Expertise by Process
  • Micro-scale Synthesis of Small Organic Molecules
  • Pilot-scale Method Development and Technology-transfer for Small Molecules
  • Pharmaceutical and Bio-pharmaceutical Processes
The Methods

It is important to recognize that the objective of the Flow Research Facility is centered around developing continuous manufacturing processes for academia and industry, and filling the gaps with inventive hardware, software, and firmware in order to accomplish the desired goal of the collaborator. In the event your process falls into the category of routine implementation, the facility provides that service at a cost to be discussed on a case-by-case basis. The facility will discuss your asks, the deliverable, and the cost under an appropriate confidentiality agreement.

In instances when the existing and/or commercially available tools cannot solve the ask from your application, the facility invites you to open a dialogue with key faculty members of the university who may have expertise in a specific area of relevance to solve your workflow problem. In those cases, the facility will guide you to a team of experts who may agree to provide insight, identify a common interest to form an R&D initiative , and propose a joint research agreement to enhance the science of flow chemistry.

The Process
The Process generally starts with an informal dialogue followed by a non-disclosure agreement with the university to discuss the details of the asks and the relevant know-how. Depending on your asks and the facility's capability to meet your demand, a general memorandum of understanding (MoU) may be established at this point. If the workflow in question requires an out-of-the-ordinary method or a device, the facility may, with your full consent, reach out to key faculty members who may be interested in conducting research towards providing the missing link. If a synergy is found between your needs and the university research interest, the facility helps you set up a research agreement through the ISS of uOttawa, and the research begins with a mutually agreed upon contract. To learn more on this very streamlined process, please reach out to us through the contact page.
The Pros and the Cons of working with the Flow Research Facility of uOttawa
The Pros:
  • The ability to gain hands-on familiarity with state-of-the-art equipment and tools
  • A cost-effective solution to immediately provide experiential learning for your organization members
  • Obtain HQP training tailor-made for your immediate workflow need for your organization members
  • Opportunity to work with highly experienced members of the flow research facility and develop relationships with global leaders in equipment manufacturing and prototyping
  • Obtain insights and form collaborations with university faculty members from science and engineering
  • Opportunity to expand your continuous manufacturing research program through academic research
  • Opportunity to leverage investments through university research programs
The Cons:

We seldom hear negatives from those collaborating with us. We advise our prospective collaborators to be prepared for following scenarios:

  • Depending on your process need, you may need R&D work. You may need to choose a fast track research program that involves the participation of HQP,s PDFs, and RAs. Your cost, which will likely still be less than a CRO or in-house option, is more than sponsoring a research program that includes graduate and undergraduate students
  • You will be invited to discuss IPs and other legal matters with the university at the commencement of the project.
  • We run a fast paced and streamlined operation. Your organization budgetary calendar and university program deadlines may require alignments for immediate start