BOKU Core Facility BioIndustrial Pilot Plant (CF BIPP)

CF BIPP offers services in research and development as well as education and training related to process development, upscaling to pilot-scale and processing bio-based materials. 

The full list of equipment and services is available at the is website (Equipment and Services::Core Facility BioIndustrial Pilot Plant::BOKU Core Facilities::BOKU).

Booking policy

The infrastructure and services are available to all interested scientific staff (BOKU and external) as well as companies. To start any new project, please contact the team of the Core Facility BioIndustrial Pilot Plant (bipp(at)boku.ac.at) to discuss the possibilities, availability, and how to order a service. Users are encouraged to have some initial information ready, such as previous attempts, papers that show results similar to those the user would like to obtain, and - last but not least - a clear idea of what one would like to see and what question one would like to answer. We will then evaluate the feasibility and scalability of your request and align the available infrastructure, consumables, and staff.

After a project discussion and before starting the service, users / customers receive a customized offer per email which they have to confirm in written form (usually per email). Service fees and prices are specified for each type of service, which are subject to regular adaptations.

Term of usage

All activities on the premises of the BOKU Core Facility BioIndustrial Pilot Plant are subject to the following rules:

  • The BOKU CF BIPP only offers “full service mode” to all clients. This implies that all trials at the facilities must be accompanied by CF staff.
  • Usage times as well as used consumables will be logged.
  • Cancellations within 2 weeks before start of scheduled services have to be made by email. If not cancelled, the booked service will be charged.
  • The CF BIPP reserves the right to cancel or postpone bookings (also on short notice) when maintenance or repair of instruments or machines is necessary or in case of staff shortage of relevant CF BIPP members. In this case, all affected customers will be informed by the CF BIPP at the earliest possibility. Preventive maintenance will be scheduled to minimize impact on usage.
  • All individuals entering the BOKU Core Facility BioIndustrial Pilot Plant must read, accept, and follow the safety notes (download).
  • Instructions by staff members of the BOKU Core Facility Facility BioIndustrial Pilot Plant, as well as the BOKU itself, have to be followed at all times.
  • Customers who do not comply with training or safety rules may be temporarily or permanently banned from the facility.
  • Unattended work is prohibited.
  • Self-initiated operation of machines and laboratory equipment is only allowed subsequent to extensive training by CF BIPP staff.
  • All irregularities and noticeable problems have to be communicated to CF BIPP staff immediately
  • Use of the CF BIPP services and infrastructure is restricted to biological material that is classified as safety level S1 (no infectious or hazardous material). Processing of S2 classified material has to been decelerated before ordering and has to be confirmed individually.
  • All material and reagents that are brought to the CF BIPP by users / clients must be clearly labelled with a designation of the compound, the name of the user and the date. In case these samples contain hazardous chemicals, appropriate GHS hazard pictograms have to be attached to the sample container. Corresponding stickers can be obtained from the CF BIPP staff. For reasons of safety and cleanliness, unlabeled material will be discarded by the CF BIPP staff without advance warning.
  • If the equipment is damaged, destroyed or soiled more than usual due to information not provided, we reserve the right to make a special charge.
  • Users will be informed when experiments carried out for them by CF BIPP staff are completed. All material will be discarded, unless otherwise stated. Users and clients are kindly asked to pick up any remaining material promptly. If shipping is necessary customers have to pick up the material in the pilot plant and are self-responsible for shipping and their cost.

The CF BIPP does not take any responsibility for negative results (e.g. low quality, low quantity, damaged material, etc.) arising from the protocols, process description and provided material. 

Waste management and sample disposal

Data transfer and storage

Immediately after the service, the raw data are retrieved and transmitted in consultation with the customer. Subsequent provision cannot be guaranteed.

Data transfer options are e.g.: 

  • drive.boku.ac.at, netstorage.boku.ac.at for internal customers
  • BOKU Box for external clients (or individual client solutions) 

If assistance is needed in this respect, please contact CF BIPP staff!

Pricing

An individual quotation will be provided upon request. Prices are subject to change.

Publications

If users present data obtained with support of CF BIPP (publications or oral/poster presentations), they must acknowledge the facility. Citing the facility in the acknowledgements is the only way we can track the impact of our services. We would appreciate receiving a copy of all the publications for which CF BIPP infrastructure was used. 

Good scientific practice demands that members of the facility who contributed intellectually to a publication will be considered as co-authors.

Possible variants:

1. Full service mode (e.g., protein purification by Sabine Necina):
“We thank Sabine Necina for conducting chromatographic experiments. The equipment was kindly provided by the BOKU Core Facility “BioIndustrial Pilot Plant””

2. Core facility staff member listed as author:
“The fermentation equipment was kindly provided by the BOKU Core Facility “BioIndustrial Pilot Plant””

Feedback and Evaluation

Customers are highly encouraged to give feedback about the performance of the facility or suggestions for improvement at any time to the head of BIPP.