Objective
Crystallization is essential in the pharmaceutical industry to produce solid forms of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Precise control over the crystal properties, especially polymorphic form, is crucial as it affects bioavailability and more than 85% of APIs exhibit polymorphism. Current approaches often rely on seed crystals to promote secondary nucleation with the expectation that the resulting crystals match the seed’s properties. However, we found that when a seed crystal is exposed to conventional process conditions, primary nucleation is still dominant resulting in a loss of control of the required crystal properties. Moreover, while flow affects primary nucleation, we observed that it has no impact on secondary nucleation. This reveals a lack of fundamental understanding of primary and secondary nucleation mechanisms and their link to process conditions, posing an issue for the production of bioactive APIs.
With CRYSTALCONTROL we will improve the control over crystal properties by decoupling primary and secondary nucleation. We will contribute to the fundamental understanding of nucleation by studying how defined fluid shear influences primary nucleation and how secondary nucleation is enhanced by crystal contact between crystal surfaces exhibiting rough growth (Objective 1). We will apply this fundamental understanding of primary and secondary nucleation to the design of novel crystallizer platforms supported by fluid dynamic simulations (Objective 2). We will assess to which extent the fundamental understanding of primary nucleation is applicable to the crystallization of macromolecules, e.g. proteins, and thus extend the scope of the project beyond small API molecules (Objective 3).
In conclusion, CRYSTALCONTROL will provide a fundamental understanding of primary and secondary nucleation, needed to control crystal properties and aid the switch from batch operations to continuous crystallization of different API molecule classes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs
- natural sciences physical sciences classical mechanics fluid mechanics fluid dynamics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.