Automation of cell and gene therapy manufacturing: from vein to vein

Watch our on demand webinar moderated by leading expert Dr Qasim Rafiq, University College London, as he discusses the latest advances in automation of cell and gene therapies with our expert panel:

• Dr Amit Chandra, Yposkesi, France
• Dr Jelena Ochs, Fraunhofer Institute
• Dr Alaina Schlinker, Fresenius Kabi
• Dr Andrew Brown, Allergan Biosciences

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In this webinar they discuss:

• The driving forces influencing the decision to move towards more automated processes as part of your manufacturing strategy.
• The key lessons we can learn from the biologics industry that help inform the development of innovative automation tools and technologies for cell and gene therapies.
• Specific real-world experiences of implementing automation strategies at different stages in the product development life-cycle.
• The latest advances in the creation of platforms being developed to tackle the cell and gene therapy manufacturing bottlenecks.
• Where the cost burden should lie within the sector to support the development of novel automation tools and platforms.

Dr Qasim Rafiq

Senior Lecturer in Bioprocessing of Regenerative, Cellular and Gene Therapy, UCL

Associate professor at UCL’s Advanced Centre for Biochemical Engineering, Qasim’s research focus is on addressing translational challenges of robust manufacture of stem cells that are needed to take regenerative medicines into the clinic. This includes the “whole bioprocess” from sourcing of raw materials and cells, through cell expansion in bioreactors and ultimately the downstream processing needed to purify and concentrate cell product for delivery to the patient. He previously lectured in Bioprocess Engineering at Aston University, where he was Principal Investigator on 4 grants with funding from RCUK, EU Horizon 2020, InnovateUK and commercial sources. Qasim completed his PhD at Loughborough.

Dr Andrew Brown

Associate Director, Process Sciences, Allergan Biologics

Andrew is the Associate Director, Process Sciences at Allergan Biologics, UK. He has previously worked as the Head of Consultancy at Biopharm Services and received his doctorate from University College London with research on scale up of membrane cartridges.

Dr Amit Chandra

Innovation Manager for Cell Therapies, Yposkes

Amit Chandra is Innovation Manager for Cell Therapies at Yposkesi. His role includes working with the Cell Therapy Development Team to identify, commission and install suitable technologies to provide closed systems and scaled production of therapeutics made with pluripotent stem cells. Located in Corbeil-Essonnes, 25 miles south-east of Paris, Yposkesi was created in November 2016 by AFM-Téléthon, France and supported by Bpifrance. The company aims to manufacture the first cell and gene therapy treatments available to patients and market them at a fair and controlled price. Prior to joining Yposkesi, Amit was at the Centre for Biological Engineering (CBE) at Loughborough University. His responsibilities at the CBE (working with multiple translational academic teams) included setting up the multi-disciplinary research centre, which included a GMP facility and research projects like the Pluripotent Stem Cell Platform funded by the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform. Amit was the Engineering Lead for the Cell Therapy Manufacturing Facility (CTMF) where he worked with the CTMF team for the design, construction and commissioning of a GMP facility. The CTMF was unique as it included an automated GMP-specified cell culture platform (TAP Biosystems/Sartorius Compact Select) incorporating a Grade A processing environment. The facility including the platform was validated to an operational qualification level.

Dr Jelena Ochs

Head of the Business Unit, Fraunhofer Institute

Head of the business unit at Fraunhofer Institute, Jelena has expertise in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Biotechnology.

Dr Alaina Schlinker

Manager, Cell Therapy application support, Fresnius Kabi

Alaina manages application support for the Lovo Cell Processing System at Fresnius Kabi where she has worked since 2014. She obtained her PhD from Northwestern University where she conducted research into platelet generation from hematopoeitic stem cells.