It鈥檚 not every day that first-year PhD students present their work at an international professional meeting. But 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Andrew Burns and Corinna Doris did exactly that at ECI鈥檚 鈥淪cale-up and Manufacturing of Cell-based Therapies V鈥� conference held in San Diego in January.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always a big deal if students can present at an international meeting. Only outstanding students get this opportunity,鈥� says Ian Phillips, 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Norris Professor of Applied Life Sciences and director of the Center for Rare Disease Therapies.
The students鈥� poster presentation, titled 鈥淐haracterization of a 3D Matrix Bioreactor for Scaled Production of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells,鈥� described their work on a new 3D approach to produce stem cells in high quantities for future clinical trials and novel treatments. Burns explains: 鈥淪tem cell culture is mainly done now in 2D. We鈥檙e trying to move that into the 3D space and do it in a controlled environment. We鈥檙e making a more habitable place for these cells to grow and giving them more space to do that.鈥�
Their research was of immediate interest to the conference organizers. Burns recalls, 鈥淲e had to send them an abstract, and they got back to us the next day, saying, 鈥榊es, please do this.鈥�
Phillips notes that millions of stem cells can be required in a single injection when used as a therapy for humans. By employing the 3D matrix technology, the students hope to grow these stem cells by the billions.
Both 2016 graduates of 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Master of Bioscience (MBS) program and recipients of the Dennis and Linda Fenton Fellowship, Burns and Doris are conducting their work in the Amgen Bioprocessing Center laboratories at 蜜桃直播 under the supervision of a team consisting of Phillips; Parviz Shamlou, the center鈥檚 director and 蜜桃直播鈥檚 George B. and Joy Rathmann Professor; 蜜桃直播 lecturer Cameron Bardliving; and Vinit Saxana, the founder and CEO of Sepragen Corporation, the students鈥� industry partner.
The students are bringing their respective strengths to the joint project. Burns, whose PhD research focuses on developing a scalable bioreactor for the growth of human cells, is responsible for the cell cultures. Doris, whose background is in bioengineering, contributes expertise in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and modeling of the reactor itself. At the same time, she is pursuing independent work to design a perfusion bioreactor for use with both mammalian and human cells.
Currently, the students鈥� collaborative research is in a preliminary stage. Burns explains: 鈥淲e鈥檙e beginning cell culturing, but we鈥檙e not in small-scale production yet. We鈥檙e in the steps before the small-scale model.鈥�
Burns will be culturing human mesenchymal stem cells, one of the older and better- known cell lines available to researchers. Phillips, who has worked with these adult stem cells in the past, notes: 鈥淲hen transplanted, they don鈥檛 run into immune reaction issues, so they鈥檙e very useful in treating humans. They actually put out growth factors and can repair cells.鈥�
In the meantime, presenting their research at an international conference has provided both Burns and Doris with a source of encouragement. Doris says: 鈥淚t validated that what we鈥檙e working on is very relevant. The conference attendees were very interested in and appreciated the CFD characterization of the system because it鈥檚 not yet commonly utilized in the biotechnology industry. It was a very positive experience and motivated me to come back to work on a system that no one else is doing.鈥�