ASST. PROFESSOR YIE HOU LEE

Scientific Director CAMP Interdisciplinary Research Group, SMART The pandemic placed restricted access to biomanufacturing sites and conferences where, under normal circumstances, physical attendance greatly adds to the team’s manufacturing and scientific exposure. In place, a slew of online webinars, lectures and a developed MIT edX course on cell therapy manufacturing kept our researchers up to date with developments in cell therapy manufacturing. Cell therapy products are either allogenic (derived from donors) or autologous (patientspecific, personalized medicine). Autologous cell therapies, although expensive, are likely to remain prominent in the near future due to biological and clinical advantages. Therefore, making autologous cell therapies more cost-effective is an urgent unmet need. Leveraging a closed microbioreactor developed in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we are now developing CAR-T manufacturing processes and protocols that enable continuous culture of high-density CAR-T cell production. The small culture volume, high-density production, and scaling-out capability enable shorten manufacturing duration, which translates into reduced overall costs. The adoption of these novel microbioreactors and processes will increase patient access to autologous CAR-T therapy.