Bracco Imaging and Limula, a life science tools company specializing in automated cell and gene therapy manufacturing solutions, launched a R&D project in collaboration with Nicola Vannini, PhD, who specializes in T-cell metabolism at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
“We see tremendous potential in innovative approaches to some of the key cell manipulation steps required to deliver improved patient outcomes,” noted Vannini. “My team is looking forward to evaluating the impact of these new technologies on the fitness of the cell products.”
The complex manufacturing of cell and gene therapies remains a bottleneck to their widespread adoption in the clinic. Cell selection and activation are critical steps in these processes, often followed by genetic manipulation. The goal of the new public-private partnership, funded through an innovation project grant from the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse, is to combine two innovations—lipid-based microbubbles and an automated cell processing technology—to offer an alternative to conventional magnetic beads for affinity-based cell selection and activation.
In this context, microbubbles are used to modify the density of target cells through specific binding, enabling their selection by natural buoyancy.
“Integrating Bracco’s microbubble technology—clinically used for over two decades in imaging—with Limula’s instrumentation offers a compelling approach to improved cell manufacturing, aiming to accelerate access to more affordable therapies for a broader patient population,” said Thierry Bettinger, PhD, director of the Bracco Research Center Geneva.
“This partnership reflects the need for a multidisciplinary approach to innovation in cell and gene therapy. Our collaboration with Bracco and Prof. Vannini will provide us with the complementary expertise needed to deliver value to our biopharma and hospital customers,” added Luc Henry, DPhil, CEO at Limula.
The concept of using buoyancy to capture cells and other components of interest is already being used in life science applications, including in cell and gene therapy manufacturing. Some of the anticipated advantages of the unique lipid formulation provided by Bracco, combined with the gentle cell processing technology developed by Limula, are Traceless reagents that can be easily removed from the cell product during the manufacturing process, significantly simplifying quality control, and gentle manipulations of the cells leading to better yields, purity, and overall product quality and potentially improved clinical outcome for patients.