Sartorius Process Engineer now Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
A great honor has been bestowed on Zander Hack, a Sartorius Process Engineer in the UK: Recognizing his outstanding commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was awarded a national honor: the recognition as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).
This article is posted on Sartorius Blog.
The honor has a great history, having been established by King George V in 1917. Today, it recognizes citizens and residents of Great Britain and the Commonwealth for their achievements and service. It is the third-highest honor bestowed by the British Crown.
Anyone can nominate someone who delivered excellent service by exceptional personal engagement. An “honors committee” then decides whether nominees will receive an honor, and if so, which one. The committee’s recommendations go first to the Prime Minister and then to the reigning regent.
Zander’s Essential Role in Coronavirus Vaccine Production
Zander’s honor is linked to his involvement in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Back in 2020, when the United Kingdom was on lockdown, he received an urgent call from his customer asking for R&D support at the client’s production site for a new vaccine.
He was asked to set up, program and run the Tangential Flow Filtration and other Downstream Processing equipment to manufacture the first non-clinical batches of a coronavirus vaccine developed by scientists at the University of Oxford. In this process, the active ingredient for the vaccine was already there – but had to be separated from the rest of the cell broth and purified into a bag of pure virus particles.
For this first system, as for all later systems, Zander went to the customer’s site to install the equipment for the downstream process. Shortly after, the first clinical batch was on the critical path to generating the data needed for the all-important efficacy study. Zander continued his process of gathering components, creating and modifying the system, shipping it and visiting sites to install and test it. At each site, he performed the initial installation and acceptance testing of the system – hours and hours of critical work. He then also trained the local operators, supervisors and process engineers - according to their needs.
In total, he went on more than 20 trips, using his experience to help successfully set up various vaccine Downstream Processing sites – actively contributing to making vaccines available to the world in record time. This not only included the work on site, but organizing flights, taking PCR tests, finding accommodation and then quarantining – all this at a time when travel was severely restricted. Zander says, “It was an incredibly challenging year but also great to be part of an awesome team who supported me.”
The nomination for his essential work in creating successful systems to produce the vaccine was followed by an MBE. “I literally couldn’t believe it when I got emails from the UK Government to say that I had been given an MBE. We are trained to be wary of unusual emails and it wasn’t until I got a phone call two weeks after the email that I realized that it was genuine. Surely the highlight of my career,” says Zander.
I literally couldn’t believe it when I got emails from the UK Government to say that I had been given an MBE. We are trained to be wary of unusual emails and it wasn’t until I got a phone call two weeks after the email that I realized that it was genuine.
Zander Hack, Process Engineer
The Big Day: The Awarding Ceremony
The ceremony took place at the famous Windsor Castle on February 1st, 2023, with Zander receiving his MBE from His Royal Highness Prince William.
Zander and his family entered Windsor Castle about two hours before the ceremony started. He and the 58 other nominees were brought to The Queen’s Drawing Room within the castle where they received a briefing about the upcoming investiture ceremony. “We were briefed on how to approach Prince William, how to address him,” Zander remembers. The Queen’s Drawing room has many famous paintings such as Holbein and Van Dyke. The castle curators entertained my children by explaining the stories behind some of the paintings.
It was an incredibly challenging year but also great to be part of an awesome team who supported me.
Zander Hack, Process Engineer
Zander was the 56th investiture of that day’s 58 recipients. He remembered his briefing, enter the door into the Grand Reception Room, walk up in front of His Royal Highness, stop and turn, bow and then step forward. Prince William will then attach the medal and shake hands. The Grand Reception Room has gold covered walls. A string quintet played in the corner. Gurkhas stood guard around the room. “Prince William then asked me questions about vaccine manufacture,” Zander remembers: “What can we do in order to be better prepared for the next pandemic?”
Although Zander was excited due to the special situation, he of course answered the questions. “We now hold stock of the main machines needed in the purification of vaccines. In addition, we are designing larger machines that will be able to make larger batches”. Prince William then asked “What part of the process did you work on? As briefly as I could, I explained the main unit operations in a viral vector and mRNA vaccine purification processes. I explained about single use technologies and how this technology allowed the rapid setup of the clean room production lines.” Prince William neatly wrapped up the conversation by saying that he hopes COVID-19 could be locked away in a single-use bag.
Special thanks also from the customer
While the MBE was, of course, a very special honor for Zander. Another special thanks came from the customer in person.
“Thank you to Sartorius for excellent support, providing the TFF skids and membrane capture expertise we needed to make the ChAdOx1 Covid 19 vaccine," – said Sandy Douglas, Associate Professor at Nuffield Department Of Medicine, Oxford University. The dedication and expertise Sartorius provided during the development of our production process had been instrumental to the successful roll out of the vaccine. "Without automated single-use systems, we wouldn’t have been able to rapidly scale up the process, unlike with the traditional stainless-steel equipment, this was achieved in months with these and other single use systems. We would not have been able to deliver the lifesaving treatments in the required timeframe without the skills, knowledge and commitment shown from the Sartorius team.”
