Cell Technology Group

Michael Butler is a Principal Investigator at the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research & Training (NIBRT), Adjunct Full Professor in University College Dublin and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of Manitoba, Canada.   He holds degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the Universities of Birmingham, London (UK) and Waterloo (Canada). After a period of several years as Principal Lecturer in Biotechnology at Manchester Metropolitan University Dr. Butler was appointed as Professor and NSERC/Apotex Industrial Research Chair in Fermentation Technology in the Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba.

In 2008, he was named Distinguished Professor and in 2010 became Scientific Director of MabNet, an NSERC-funded national network focused on platform processes for monoclonal antibody production.  His other appointments have included Associate Dean of Scientific Research at Manitoba and Visiting Scientist at MIT (USA), Animal Virus Research Institute (Pirbright, UK) and the Universities of Oxford and Rio de Janeiro.

His research focuses on the development of bioprocesses using mammalian cells for the production of recombinant proteins, monoclonal antibodies and viral vaccines.  He is particularly interested in the bioprocess conditions that can be used to control the biochemical structure of glycoproteins and hence the quality of biopharmaceuticals.  He has always collaborated closely with industry and is a past recipient of the Canadian National Synergy Award for University-Industry innovation.  He has been President of the International Society for Protein Expression in Animal Cells (PEACe) and on the editorial board of several journals and major reference works including Encyclopedia of Cell Technology, Biotechnology Advances, Biotechnology and Bioengineering and Comprehensive Biotechnology.

He is the founder of Biogro Technologies Inc., a spin-off company dedicated to serum-free media development.  He has authored several books on mammalian cell technology and over 200 scientific articles (with > 6,000 citations).

Books on Bioprocessing authored and edited by M.Butler

• Butler, M. (Ed) 2007 Cell Culture and Upstream Processing. 187 pages publ. Taylor & Francis.
• Butler, M. 2004 Animal Cell Culture and Technology 2nd edition 256 pages publ. Bios Scientific, Oxford.
• Butler,M. 1996. Animal Cell Culture and Technology 114 pages Oxford University Press
• Butler, M. and M.M. Dawson (eds). 1992. Cell Culture: Labfax 268 pages publ. Bios Scientific, Oxford.
• Butler, M. (Ed.) 1991. Mammalian Cell Biotechnology: A Practical Approach 245 pages; Oxford Univ. Press. Butler, M. 1987. "Animal Cell Technology: Principles and Products" 180 pages Open University Press. 
• Castilho, L., Moraes, A., Augusto, E. & Butler, M. (Eds) 2008. “Animal Cell Technology: from Biopharmaceuticals to Gene Therapy” 21 Chapters 518 pages publ. Taylor & Francis.