I had the opportunity to visit Bayer’s site in Wuppertal along with Master’s students from the Biochemistry and Immunobiology programmes at the LIMES Institute, University of Bonn, and PhD students from diverse research backgrounds. The excursion offered valuable insights into industrial biotechnology, pharmacology, and modern drug discovery.
The day began with a presentation by Dr. Swantje B., who introduced us to Bayer’s history, portfolio, and upstream and downstream processes. Following the presentation, members of her team guided us through the downstream processing laboratories, where I learned about the equipment and techniques used in bioprocessing, including batch and fed-batch fermentation.
At Bayer’s Research and Development Centre, Dr. David G. introduced us to pharmacology and highlighted the importance of pharmacological parameters in evaluating potential drug candidates. The engaging question-and-answer session helped me better understand the challenges involved in drug development. I also had the opportunity to learn about advanced in vitro technologies, including organoids and organ-on-a-chip systems, and how these models are used to investigate biological processes and test potential therapeutics.
Another highlight was the visit to the medicinal chemistry facilities with Dr. Michael K. I learned about different separation techniques used to analyse chiral compounds, including supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). I was particularly fascinated by the high-throughput screening (HTS) process, in which automated robotic systems screen thousands of compounds to identify promising candidates for drug development. The team also explained how screening data are processed and how assays are developed to evaluate the biological activity of these compounds.
After an insightful day filled with presentations, laboratory tours, and scientific discussions, I returned to the University of Bonn by university bus with the other participants.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Anastasia Solomatina for organising this excursion and accompanying us throughout the day. I am also grateful to the Bayer team for their warm hospitality, informative presentations, engaging discussions, laboratory tours, and generous provision of lunch. This experience allowed me to connect my academic knowledge with real-world pharmaceutical research and gain a deeper understanding of the drug discovery process.
-Shuvro
As students of the Life and Medical Sciences (LIMES) Institute Master programs in “Immunobiology: from molecules to integrative systems” and “Biochemistry” we had the opportunity to visit the Bayer AG in Wuppertal on October 6th 2026.
Our excursion began at the CAMPO Mensa Poppelsdorf, where we met before taking the bus directly to Wuppertal. Upon our arrival at Bayer AG, we started our visit at the “Werk an der Wupper” site, where we even got to see Wuppertal’s famous “Schwebebahn” passing by. After a warm welcome from the Bayer representatives, we gained insights into the development of biologics at Bayer AG, from the identification of promising drug candidates to their development, optimization and final production. Afterwards, we were split into smaller groups for a guided laboratory tour, where we got a closer look at upstream and downstream workflows in the development of biologics. This allowed us to get a deeper understanding of the manufacturing steps, from cell cultivation in bioreactors to the purification of therapeutic proteins using different chromatography steps.
After transferring to the Bayer Research and Development (R&D) Center in Wuppertal-Aprath, we were invited to have lunch at the canteen first. Afterwards, we visited the pharmacology department and learned about modern cell and tissue models such as kidney and heart organoids for drug testing and identification. This was particularly interesting for several students.
During our visit to the Medicinal Chemistry laboratories, we were introduced to different analytical and biophysical techniques. Finally, we visited the High-Throughput Screening laboratory, where we learned about automated screening technologies and how they are used to make experimental workflows more efficient.
Overall, the excursion was a great opportunity to experience pharmaceutical research in an industrial setting. We would like to thank the Bayer AG team for their warm welcome, informative presentations and laboratory tours, as well as Dr. Anastasia Solomatina for making this valuable experience possible.
- El Hassan