ST.
PAUL, Minn., Nov. 7, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- ScaleReady, in collaboration with Wilson Wolf
Manufacturing and Bio-Techne Corporation and CellReady, has awarded
G-Rex Grants totaling $475,000 to
three leading investigators at the Baylor
College of Medicine's (BCM) Center for Cell and Gene Therapy
Institute (CAGT).
Dr. Ann Leen, a Professor in the
Department of Pediatrics at BCM's CAGT, received a $275,000 G-Rex Grant for process development and
IND enabling studies related to tumor-associated neoantigen
specific T cell therapies for the treatment of acute myeloid
leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in pre- and
post-hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplant. Dr. Leen has
been with BCM's CAGT since 2002, is the senior or co-author on more
than 100 publications, is a named inventor on 14 published patents
(including several relating to G-Rex), served as the principal
investigator on more than 15 clinical trials using "first in human"
cell therapies, and is a co-founder of two T cell therapy companies
(Allovir and Marker Therapeutics).
Dr. Katie McKenna, an Assistant
Professor at BCM's CAGT, received a $100,000 G-Rex Grant to develop a novel G-Rex
based approach for culturing three dimensional (3D) solid tumor
spheroids. Dr. McKenna's vision is to establish these 3D tumor
spheroid models as a reliable representation of the tumor
microenvironment (TME) compared to in vivo murine studies
that traditionally accompany an Investigational New Drug (IND)
application. Dr. McKenna will begin by establishing organoid
models for pancreatic, breast, and lung cancer tissues before
expanding to other tumor models.
Dr. Dimitrios Laurin Wagner, a
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at BCM's CAGT, and Dr. Marie
Pouzolles, Staff Scientist in the Wagner Lab, received a
$100,000 G-Rex Grant to develop
innovative gene editing platforms to create potent immune cell
therapies. Specifically, the G-Rex Grant will be deployed to
scale up the manufacture of non-viral gene edited T cells,
leveraging their optimized non-viral CRISPR-Cas-based method for
CAR insertion into specific loci of primary human T cells.
Dr. Wagner received his M.D., Ph.D. from Charité
Universitätsmedizin Berlin where
he was the head of Research and Development at the Berlin Center
for Advanced Therapies and a junior group leader at the Berlin
Institutes of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies. At
BCM's CAGT, Dr. Wagner and Dr. Pouzolles plan to move genome
editing into the clinics to create transformative anti-cancer cell
therapies.
"Baylor's Center for Cell and Gene Therapy has long been at the
forefront of Cell and Gene Therapy innovation and played a pivotal
role in the success of G-Rex technology. G-Rex would not have
become the gold standard for T cell therapy manufacturing without
the input and help we received from the early adopters at
Baylor. It's gratifying to know that our G-Rex Grant program
will help these accomplished investigators advance their scientific
objectives" said John Wilson, CEO of
Wilson Wolf Manufacturing and co-inventor of G-Rex.
ScaleReady's G-Rex Grant Program is a $20M initiative to advance the state of cell and
gene-modified cell therapy (CGT) development and manufacturing by
awarding individual Grant Awards worth up to $300,000. G-Rex Grant Recipients also gain
access to exclusive support from ScaleReady's growing consortium of
G-Rex Grant Partners who bring best-in-class tools and technologies
as well as unparalleled knowledge and expertise in the areas of
cGMP manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs, CGT business
operations, and more.
For more information about the G-Rex® Grant Program, please
contact info@scaleready.com.
About ScaleReady
ScaleReady provides the field of cell
and gene-modified cell therapy (CGT) with a G-Rex centric
manufacturing platform that enables the world's most practical,
flexible, scalable, and affordable CGT drug product development and
manufacturing.
The G-Rex manufacturing platform is currently used by a rapidly
growing list of over 800 organizations and is producing drug
products for approximately 50% of CGT clinical trials as well as 5
commercially approved CGT drugs.
CGT entities relying on the breadth and scope of ScaleReady's
expertise can expect to save years of time and millions of dollars
on the path to CGT commercialization.
For more information about the ScaleReady G-Rex® Grant Program,
please contact info@scaleready.com.
About Wilson Wolf Manufacturing
Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) is dedicated to
simplifying cell and gene-modified cell (CGT) therapy research,
process development, and manufacturing. This is being
accomplished through its scalable G-Rex technology, which is used
throughout the world in CGT applications ranging from basic
research to commercial drug production.
Wilson Wolf's mission is to
create hope for cancer patients, one G-Rex® device at a time.
About Bio-Techne Corporation
Bio-Techne Corporation
(NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing
innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and
clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne, in partnership with
Wilson Wolf, is creating products
such as media and cytokines that are specifically tailored to
G-Rex® Bioreactors, including right-sized reagent quantities in
containers that are tailored to high throughput closed-system
manufacturing. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands,
please visit https://www.bio-techne.com or follow the Company on
social media at: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.
Contact: David Clair, Vice
President, Investor Relations & Corporate Development
david.clair@bio-techne.com
612-656-4416
About CellReady LLC
CellReady is the world's first and
only G-Rex centric contract development and manufacturing
organization (CDMO) specializing in G-Rex based cell and
gene-modified cell therapy development and manufacturing. The
company offers a wide range of services to support the development
and commercialization of these therapies.
CellReady's mission is to create hope for cancer patients, one
G-Rex® process at a time.
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SOURCE Bio-Techne Corporation
