In Honor of Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Cascone: From His Biotechnology Lessons to Industrial Application

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cátedra de Biotecnología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Inst. NANOBIOTEC UBA-CONICET, Junín 956, Buenos Aires 1113, Argentina
Interests: protein purification; immunogenic peptides; vaccines; antivenoms; bioactive peptides; immunoassays

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cátedra de Biotecnología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Inst. NANOBIOTEC UBA-CONICET, Junín 956, Buenos Aires 1113, Argentina
Interests: protein expression and purification; baculovirus-larvae platform; antivenom; veterinary vaccines; immunoassays

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cátedra de Biotecnología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Inst. NANOBIOTEC UBA-CONICET, Junín 956, Buenos Aires 1113, Argentina
Interests: protein purification; adsorptive technology; chromatography; biopolymers

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
2. Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Interests: antimicrobial peptides; solid-phase chemistry; combinatorial chemistry; drug delivery systems; peptide drug conjugates; orthogonal chemistry; drug discovery; biomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are announcing this Special Issue in honor of Prof. Dr. Osvaldo Cascone (1943-2024), whose distinguished career in the fields of biochemistry and biotechnology deserves recognition and celebration. The aim of this Special Issue is to collate papers (articles, short communications, reviews, perspectives, opinions) focused on the biotechnology process.

Professor Cascone graduated with honors in Biochemistry and Pharmacy from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry (FF&B) at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). He received his PhD in Pharmacy and Biochemistry from the same institution and took position as a Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET); during his career, he was promoted to Senior Researcher and Associate and Consultant Professor, and then to Biotechnology Chair, at FF&B, UBA.

He developed great expertise in protein purification at the industrial scale during his stays in Sanofi-ELF Biorecherches (Toulouse, France), the University of Reading (United Kingdom), and Pharmacia (Uppsala, Sweden), and he led high-impact research projects and mentored the next generation of students, scientists, and professionals. He made exceptional pioneering contributions to biotechnology, especially in terms of large-scale protein expression and purification. "Do not purify more than necessary” he always said to his undergraduate and PhD students, with the aim and great desire to reduce the cost of the process and increase its yields. He successfully directed projects supported by major national and international institutions and created many research groups dedicated to optimizing the biotechnology process from upstream to downstream. Such highly fruitful research resulted in over 160 articles being published in prestigious scientific journals and book chapters with renowned publishers, as well as in the supervision of numerous doctoral and master's theses. His love for teaching has been reflected in his immense contributions throughout his prolific academic career, during which he designed and directed many signatures in the field of biotechnology and over 65 postgraduate courses, especially in protein purification.

Because of his great contributions, Professor Cascone was honored with the "Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry" award for academic excellence and the "Bernardo Houssay" award for research excellence, among others.

His dedication and contributions have left a significant mark on the scientific community, and his work deserves to be recognized through this Special Issue in his honor.

Dr. Silvia Andrea Camperi
Prof. Dr. María Victoria Miranda
Dr. Federico Wolman
Prof. Dr. Fernando Albericio
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Pharmaceutical and BioTech Industry is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biotechnology process and scaling-up
  • biopharmaceuticals
  • vaccines
  • antivenoms
  • protein expression and purification
  • peptides
  • immunoassays

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

21 pages, 1508 KB  
Article
Biofactories Applied to Future Antivenom Production
by Gregorio Juan Mc callum, María Sol Rodriguez, Christian Leandro Macoretta, Ignacio Smith, Federico Javier Wolman, Alexandra Marisa Targovnik, Adolfo Rafael de Roodt, María Victoria Miranda and Matías Fingermann
J. Pharm. BioTech Ind. 2026, 3(2), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpbi3020008 - 7 Apr 2026
Viewed by 348
Abstract
Background: Accidents caused by the Loxosceles laeta spider constitute a health problem in South America. Envenomation can lead to severe systemic manifestations, eventually compromising the patient’s life. Most regional health authorities consider antivenom administration the basis of effective treatment in the most serious [...] Read more.
Background: Accidents caused by the Loxosceles laeta spider constitute a health problem in South America. Envenomation can lead to severe systemic manifestations, eventually compromising the patient’s life. Most regional health authorities consider antivenom administration the basis of effective treatment in the most serious cases. The availability of spider venom is the primary bottleneck for antivenom production. Herein, we present a novel biotechnological approach, based on the expression of recombinant versions of the most relevant toxin in loxoscelism, sphingomyelinase D (SphD), in insect larvae (Spodoptera frugiperda). Methods: We produced two versions of SphD: one conserving its biological activities (wtSphD) and a second alternative that was designed to be genetically detoxified (dSphD). Two horses were subjected to three consecutive hyperimmunization cycles with dSphD. The horses’ plasma was extracted at the end of each cycle and used to produce Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) of antivenoms at a pilot scale. Results: Dermonecrotic activity of wtSphD was completely neutralized with the sera obtained from one horse and partially with that of the other. In contrast, the APIs derived in both cases completely neutralized wtSphD dermonecrotic activity. Direct hemolysis of human red blood cells by wtSphD was also neutralized by sera and APIs. Conclusions: These results show venom replacement or complementation potential by recombinant dSphD produced in this novel platform. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 1650 KB  
Article
Fetuin Purification from Fetal Bovine Serum by Ion-Exchange Chromatography
by Silvia L. Soto Espinoza, Pamela A. Kikot, M. Laura Carbajal, Claudio C. Paolazzi and Mariano Grasselli
J. Pharm. BioTech Ind. 2026, 3(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpbi3010004 - 26 Feb 2026
Viewed by 528
Abstract
Background: Fetuin (Ft) is the most abundant protein in fetal bovine serum (FBS) and is considered one of its essential components. This acidic glycoprotein plays a key role in cell adhesion and proliferation and is vital for maintaining in vitro cultures of [...] Read more.
Background: Fetuin (Ft) is the most abundant protein in fetal bovine serum (FBS) and is considered one of its essential components. This acidic glycoprotein plays a key role in cell adhesion and proliferation and is vital for maintaining in vitro cultures of animal and human cells, tissues, and organs. FBS is a natural source for Ft purification. However, the high demand for FBS as a standard reagent in cell culture severely limits its availability for use as a raw material for protein purification. Furthermore, the industrial production of FBS results in a significant amount of contaminated FBS. This contaminated fraction can thus be utilized for Ft recovery. Methods: In this work, we present a novel method for Ft recovery from FBS using a single chromatographic step based on anion exchange chromatography under acidic conditions. Results: Optimal adsorption conditions for Ft were studied using response surface methodology (RSM), which suggested a buffer pH of 4.2 and an FBS dilution of 40%. However, increasing the pH to 5 resulted in a 28% increase in Ft recovery, although with a slight reduction in Ft purity to 88%. A scale-up to half a liter of FBS was performed using a 400 mL column. A single-step elution with 0.3 M NaCl was employed, yielding an Ft recovery of 90% with a purity greater than 82%. Conclusions: The purified Ft demonstrated biological activity as a growth promoter in MDBK cell culture when utilized in a serum-free culture medium. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop