Research Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy Organ donation
From an early age, Cheri Adams, program director of regulatory strategy at the Gates Institute, knew she would pursue a career in medicine. But it was her experience as an organ donor that led her to a career in clinical research.
Research Cancer Advancement Cell and Gene Therapy
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has shown great promise in the treatment of certain leukemias and lymphoma, but results in solid tumors have not been as impressive.
Gates Institute recently announced four recipients of the 2023 Gates Grubstake Fund. These awards are designed to support investigators who are researching and developing regenerative medicine-related technologies. The awards of up to $350,000 are made annually in a process administered in collaboration with CU Innovations. The fund made awards totaling over $1.4 million to University of Colorado Anschutz researchers in 2023.
Navin Pinto, MD, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, has been named medical lead at Gates Institute. In this role, he’ll work in partnership with the Investigational New Drug and Device (IND/IDE) Office to oversee Gates Institute-supported clinical trials, providing expertise drawn from his extensive experience with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.
It’s been a banner year for the Gates Institute, which celebrated its launch in May 2023, consolidating the Gates Biomanufacturing Facility with the administrative team of the former Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine as well as the regulatory expertise of the Clinical Investigation and Regulatory Sciences (CELLS) team under one umbrella. The year has seen the launch of a new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell clinical trial and continued enrollment of three existing CAR T-cell trials. The Gates Institute newsroom detailed these activities, as well as other areas of cell and gene therapy research in the works.
Pediatric Cancer Blood Cancer Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy
Since receiving FDA approval in 2017, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has shown remarkable success in treating patients with certain blood cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia. A complex biomanufacturing process is required to produce the therapy, which is performed for each individual patient. The process begins with apheresis, generating a leukopak containing the patient’s white blood cells. From there, T cells are isolated, genetically engineered to create CAR proteins that enable T cells to attack cancer cells, and multiplied in a laboratory. They are then reintroduced to the patient.
Research Bone Cancer Animal Cell and Gene Therapy
Dogs are like humans in many ways, sharing similar physiology as well as biological needs. Our four-legged friends are also vulnerable to some of the same diseases that we face, making the intersection of human and animal medicine an intriguing subject for study.
Research Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy
Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a skin-blistering disease that can be devastating for those with severe forms of the condition. Research is underway to grow genetically corrected skin by Gates Institute investigators Ganna Bilousova, PhD, and Igor Kogut, PhD, associate professors of dermatology at University of Colorado School of Medicine, in collaboration with Dennis Roop, PhD, professor of dermatology and associate director of the Gates Institute. Their work could lead to effective therapies for EB as well as other diseases.
Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy
At the surface, technology transfer is exactly what it sounds like; the transfer of technology from one entity to another. When working with your friendly neighborhood cGMP facility (the Gates Biomanufacturing Facility, or GBF), that simple phrase, technology transfer, should take on a whole new meaning.
Research Blood Cancer Clinical Trials Cell and Gene Therapy
Blood cancers – leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma -- are the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, with more than one-third of patients succumbing to their disease within five years of diagnosis. In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for lymphoma and certain leukemias in patients for whom other treatments had failed. Research has shown that about 85% of such patients achieve remission, but about 60% of these eventually relapse. Gates Institute at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is on the forefront of research to improve the efficacy of this groundbreaking treatment.
Research rare disease Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy Gates Summer Internship Program
Few college seniors can say they are working in a world-renowned lab to develop therapies for a genetic disorder that plagues 1 in 5,000 people worldwide.
Leukemia Cancer Clinical Research Clinical Trials Cell and Gene Therapy
Enrollment has begun for a new phase 1 study of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital for adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). The trial is the first launched through the newly formed Gates Institute, and it will be the fourth for which the Gates Biomanufacturing Facility produces the CAR T product for research at CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
Clinical Trials Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy
Like many start-ups, the Gates Biomanufacturing Facility’s path to becoming sustainable has been full of twists and turns. The facility, known internally as the GBF, was launched in 2015 with no customers and no jobs in the pipeline, but many capital needs. The visionaries at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the Gates Frontiers Fund saw biomanufacturing capabilities as being key to the success of the nascent Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine, and took a leap of faith.
Research Faculty Clinical Trials Giving Dermatology rare disease Regenerative Medicine Cell and Gene Therapy
When Dennis Roop, PhD, joined the University of Colorado School of Medicine to lead the Gates Program for Stem Cell Research in 2007, the first postdoc he recruited was Ganna (Anya) Bilousova, PhD, a Ukrainian researcher who had recently completed graduate training in biochemistry at CU.
The Denver Post
March 14, 2024
A study at University of Colorado’s Gates Institute on the Anschutz Medical Campus is looking at CAR-T in adult patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, whose first round of chemotherapy either failed or gave a disappointing response that suggests it won’t work for long, executive director Dr. Terry Fry said. (The institute is named for rubber manufacturer Charles C. Gates.)
UC Davis News
December 12, 2023
Encouraged by his care team at the Colorado hospital to apply for an internship at the Gates Institute research lab, Mann spent this summer surrounded by researchers helping develop novel therapeutics for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). He worked on an experiment that used cells from EDS patients to grow skin samples for study. The lab is investigating the use of exosomes — secreted by most cells and present in tissues and body fluids — as a vehicle for therapeutic intervention.
Colorado Bioscience Association
March 06, 2023
When you talk to Terry Fry, M.D., about why the Gates Institute is one of the best locations in the country to work in cellular and gene therapy, he has a lot of insight. As the executive director of the Gates Institute, a pediatric oncologist, and a pioneer in the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies, Dr. Fry has an intimate understanding of what it takes to get a drug from initial research phases to commercial manufacturing.
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News
February 08, 2023
The University of Colorado has adopted an innovative model for running an academic GMP manufacturing facility without extensive endowment funding. The Charles Gates Biomanufacturing Facility is one of only a few GMP facilities able to manufacture cell- and protein-based therapies for both academic researchers and industry.
Mary Guiden
