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Melocchi A, Schmittlein B, Jones AL, Ainane Y, Rizvi A, Chan D, Dickey E, Pool K, Harsono K, Szymkiewicz D, Scarfogliero U, Bhatia V, Sivanantham A, Kreciglowa N, Hunter A, Gomez M, Tanner A, Uboldi M, Batish A, Balcerek J, Kutova-Stoilova M, Paruthiyil S, Acevedo LA, Stadnitskiy R, Carmichael S, Aulbach H, Hewitt M, Jeu XDMD, Robilant BD, Parietti F, Esensten JH. Development of a robotic cluster for automated and scalable cell therapy manufacturing. Cytotherapy 2024:S1465-3249(24)00098-7. [PMID: 38647505 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcyt.2024.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AIMS The production of commercial autologous cell therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells requires complex manual manufacturing processes. Skilled labor costs and challenges in manufacturing scale-out have contributed to high prices for these products. METHODS We present a robotic system that uses industry-standard cell therapy manufacturing equipment to automate the steps involved in cell therapy manufacturing. The robotic cluster consists of a robotic arm and customized modules, allowing the robot to manipulate a variety of standard cell therapy instruments and materials such as incubators, bioreactors, and reagent bags. This system enables existing manual manufacturing processes to be rapidly adapted to robotic manufacturing, without having to adopt a completely new technology platform. Proof-of-concept for the robotic cluster's expansion module was demonstrated by expanding human CD8+ T cells. RESULTS The robotic cultures showed comparable cell yields, viability, and identity to those manually performed. In addition, the robotic system was able to maintain culture sterility. CONCLUSIONS Such modular robotic solutions may support scale-up and scale-out of cell therapies that are developed using classical manual methods in academic laboratories and biotechnology companies. This approach offers a pathway for overcoming manufacturing challenges associated with manual processes, ultimately contributing to the broader accessibility and affordability for personalized immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Melocchi
- Multiply Labs, San Francisco, California, USA; Sezione di Tecnologia e Legislazione Farmaceutiche "M. E. Sangalli", Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
| | | | - Alexis L Jones
- Multiply Labs, San Francisco, California, USA; Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Ali Rizvi
- Multiply Labs, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Darius Chan
- Multiply Labs, San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | - Kelsey Pool
- Multiply Labs, San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Marco Uboldi
- Multiply Labs, San Francisco, California, USA; Sezione di Tecnologia e Legislazione Farmaceutiche "M. E. Sangalli", Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Arpit Batish
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Joanna Balcerek
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Mariella Kutova-Stoilova
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Sreenivasan Paruthiyil
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Luis A Acevedo
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Rachel Stadnitskiy
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | | | | | - Matthew Hewitt
- Charles River Scientific, Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | | | - Jonathan H Esensten
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA; The Advanced Biotherapy Center (ABC), Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
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