Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Immune-Mediated Diseases“Cell and Gene Therapy – from the basics to application” – 4D-Workshop of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Immune-Mediated Diseases CIMD young scientists program
On May 9, 2022, the workshop “Cell and Gene Therapy – from the basics to application” was conducted as part of the 4D workshop series of the Fraunhofer CIMD young scientists program.
The workshop was organized and performed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI. It focused on topics like basics of cell therapy, development, design and production of ATMPs, cell and gene therapies from an industry perspective and CAR-T cell therapy. The participants consisted of employees from the core institutes of the research cluster (Fraunhofer ITMP, ITEM and IZI) as well as from other Fraunhofer institutes (Fraunhofer IAIS, IAP, IGB, IGD, IKTS, IPA and ISC).
Prof. Dr. Dr. Ulrike Köhl, head of Fraunhofer IZI and board member of Fraunhofer CIMD, opened the workshop by welcoming the participants and gave an exciting presentation about the field of work of the Fraunhofer IZI. Dr. Sandy Tretbar, Group Leader at Fraunhofer IZI, then introduced the participants to the immunological principles of cell therapy. This was followed by a guest presentation by Prof. Dr. Uwe Platzbecker, Head of the Department of Hematology and Cell Therapy at Leipzig University Hospital, in which he shared his clinical experience on the application of CAR-T cell therapy in clinical practice.
After the lunch break, Dr. Dominik Schmiedel, Group Leader at Fraunhofer IZI, explained approaches for the development and design of new ATMPs. This was followed by the second guest presentation by Dr. Dorothea Ledergerber, Chief Technical Officer at Tigen Pharma, in which she reported on the development of cell and gene therapies from an industry perspective. The event was topped off with a presentation by Georg Popp, research associate at Fraunhofer IZI, and Dr. Jessica Horbelt, group leader at Fraunhofer IPA, about challenges of manufacturing ATMPS and possible solutions, e.g. automation, digitization and process lines.
Overall, the event was a successful virtual continuation of Fraunhofer CIMD's young scientists program for networking, collaboration and training beyond the participants ongoing projects. The research cluster would like to thank all speakers for the exciting impulses and the participants for their active participation.