CanCell Therapeutics Partners With Ovizio To Improve Monitoring Of CAR-T Cell Production

Brussels, Belgium – Ovizio Imaging Systems, a manufacturer of cell analyzers for advanced monitoring in the bioprocessing market, and CanCell Therapeutics, an early-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of CAR-T cell therapies, today announced that they will enter into a collaboration to further improve the monitoring of CAR-T cell-therapy manufacturing.

The partnership will enable CanCell Therapeutics to capitalize on Ovizio’s patented analyzers for label-free monitoring of CAR-T cell manufacturing. In addition, Ovizio will leverage CanCell Therapeutics’ expertise in CAR-T cell manufacturing to further optimize its CAR-T monitoring machine learning algorithms. CAR-T production involves T-cell purification and amplification, viral transduction to achieve CAR expression, then formulation, fill and finish to achieve a deliverable cell therapy product. During amplification and CAR transduction, cells undergo significant morphology changes reflecting their progressive transformation to the desired end product. This morphological change can be monitored using Ovizio’s unique and patented technology.

Dr. Emilie Viey, Ovizio’s CEO said, “This collaboration with CanCell Therapeutics is an excellent opportunity for us to contribute to their development of crucial CAR-T therapies. At the same time, we look forward to training our machine learning algorithms to better understand the morphological changes occurring in these cells. Both of these benefits will ultimately facilitate the production of better cell therapies.”

About Ovizio Imaging Systems

Ovizio is an innovative company developing unique analyzers for advanced cell monitoring in bioprocessing applications. Ovizio’s technology has the potential to track a broad range of phenotypic changes in a label-free manner. Ovizio’s analyzers enable cell density and cell viability assessment and have the potential to track many other phenotypical changes such as CAR transduction efficiency and lymphocyte activation.

The technology is based on proprietary, patented quantitative phase imaging to enable non-invasive, label-free imaging of cells in culture. The captured images are acquired through patented technology and provide information on cell parameters such as diameter, membrane regularity, granularity, and other features. These parameters are then combined through machine learning algorithms into a cell status signature, enabling monitoring of cell Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs) such as cell count, viability, % of aggregates etc. throughout the complete cell culture process. Applicable from R&D through to manufacturing processes and enabling significant cost reductions and quality improvement, Ovizio’s solution are particularly convenient and robust for automated cell culture monitoring, analysis and quality control. Follow Ovizio on LinkedIn

About the qMod

The qMod is a camera that enables label-free monitoring of cell status such as cell count and cell viability. It relies on quantitative phase imaging for acquisition of cellular parameters and machine learning algorithms for phenotypic monitoring. It can be attached to brightfield microscopes equipped with a c-mount port and is compatible with a wide range of magnifications. Images are acquired on the qMod camera and automatically transferred to a nearby computer through a USB connection. Data analysis is performed with Ovizio’s proprietary software, OsOne.

About CanCell Therapeutics

The immune system constitutes a real barrier against exogenous pathogens as well as endogenous danger signals such as abnormal cancer cells. Unfortunately, the immune system alone is not always strong enough. Manipulation of certain immune cells allows them to be specifically reprogrammed and redirected against a tumor to eliminate it, creating the innovative cellular drugs of tomorrow. Based on 20 years of experience in cell and gene therapy, Dr. Marina Deschamps and Dr. Christophe Ferrand have co-founded CanCell Therapeutics, a spin-off of the French Blood Center (EFS Bourgogne Franche-Comté, France). CanCell Therapeutics aims to develop, at clinical stage, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy targeting leukemia cells. In the long term, they aim to support other immunotherapy projects in the field towards clinical application.