The Translational Sciences Laboratory at Gates Institute has been awarded a $300,000 grant to develop a manufacturing platform based on a technology called G-Rex, which produces chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells using a gas-permeable membrane technology that provides advantages over other systems.
Veena Krishnamoorthy, PhD, director of Translational Sciences at the Gates Institute, says the grant will fund research to improve how CAR T cells—an innovative type of immunotherapy used to treat cancer and other diseases—are made. Scientists will use a step-by-step approach to test different points of the manufacturing process and see how each one affects the final product. The goal is to better understand and fine-tune these steps, so that the Institute’s Translational Sciences Laboratory can offer more flexible and reliable ways to produce new cell and gene therapies for future medical treatments.
"We are grateful for the generous G-Rex Grant funding, which will support the development of efficient and adaptable manufacturing approaches for our cell and gene therapy (CGT) programs," said Dr. Krishnamoorthy. "The scalable and modular nature of the G-Rex platform aligns with our goals to optimize use of space, capital, and personnel while maintaining cell health and quality."
The grant was provided by ScaleReady, developer of the G-Rex centric manufacturing platform.
"We are pleased to award G-Rex Grant funding to the Gates Institute, a leader in bridging the academic world of discovery with clinical application to advance a diverse portfolio of innovative cell therapies for devastating cancers and rare diseases,” said John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Wolf and co-inventor of G-Rex. “It's an honor to support the Gates Institute's important contributions to the field of cell and gene therapy."
As part of the G-Rex Grant, the Gates Institute will also receive early access to CellReady's G-CAR-TTM, a standardized CAR-T drug product manufacturing operation conceived of by CellReady, the first and only G-Rex contract development and manufacturing organization. G-CAR-TTM is ideal for high-throughput, low-cost manufacturing.
“By leveraging G-Rex platforms, the Translational Sciences team can systematically assess how culture parameters influence T-cell expansion, phenotype, and functional potency,” said Krishnamoorthy. “Insights gained from these studies will guide the development of robust, reproducible, and scalable manufacturing processes that are essential for advancing immune effector cell therapies into clinical evaluation. Ultimately, this work will strengthen and accelerate the diverse pipeline of innovative cell therapies under development at CU Anschutz, with the potential to transform treatment options for patients with aggressive cancers and rare diseases.”