Larry Grill, PhD
Adjunct Professor, KGI | Director, Vaccine Development Institute, Pitzer CollegeAnimal and Human Vaccines, Vaccine Production, FDA Regulatory Processes, Cancer Therapeutic Vaccines, Biopharmaceuticals
In addition to teaching courses at the Keck Graduate Institute and to undergraduates at the Keck Science Department for the Claremont Colleges, Dr. Grill is currently the director at the Vaccine Development Institute at Pitzer College where students and faculty are involved in a collaborative research project with the University of Botswana and the Botswana Vaccine Institute to develop low cost vaccines for developing countries. Dr. Grill was one of two founders who started Large Scale Biology Corporation (LSBC) in 1987, which became a publicly-held company in 2000. The biotechnology company made therapeutic drugs, pharmaceuticals and vaccines using a unique plant viral gene expression technology. They had successful animal and human clinical trials, and were able to produce patient-specific vaccines as a therapeutic treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer patients. Dr. Grill received his Ph.D. from the University of California in Riverside in 1979. He has published over 25 scientific papers and is an inventor on more than 30 issued US and world patents.
The science, technology and regulatory issues surrounding biopharmaceuticals.
This course follows course ALS 330 and together these course are designed to provide an understanding of how pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies discover, develop, and bring drugs to market. This course will focus on the development of drugs.
The Team Masters Project (TMP) is the capstone activity for second-year Master of Bioscience (MBS) students and for Postdoctoral Professional Masters (PPM) students. It is assigned 2-course credits each semester for a total of 4 course credits and a passing grade in both semesters is required for graduation with an MBS or PPM degree.
This course will provide students with a background of the scientific basis of some key aspects of biotechnology based drug, biologic and vaccine design, discovery and development process. Students will learn about therapeutic and vaccine targets, and how the drugs and vaccines are designed, tested and produced.
This course examines the operational, strategic and commercial aspects of the regulatory approval process for new medical devices, biologics, and combination products in the United States.
- Grill LK, Palmer KE, Pogue GP. "Use of plant viruses for production of plant-derived vaccines". Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 2005;24(4):309-323
- Grill LK. "Production of Pharmaceutical Proteins Using Viral Vectors". In: Christou P, Klee H, editors. Handbook of Plant Biotechnology, Vol. 2. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.; 2004. p. 781-789.
- Grill LK, Lindbo J, Pogue GP, Turpen TH. "Viral vector expression of foreign proteins in plants". In: Hood EE, Howard JA, editors. Plants as Factories for Protein Production. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands; 2002. p. 3-16.
- McCormick AA, Kumagai MH, Hanley K, Turpen TH, Hakim I, Grill LK, Tuse D, Levy S, Levy R. "Rapid production of specific vaccines for lymphoma by expression of the tumor-derived single-chain Fv epitopes in tobacco plants". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1999;96(2):703-708.
- Mohagheghpour N, Waleh N, Garger SJ, Dousman L, Grill LK, Tusé D. "Synthetic melanin suppresses production of proinflammatory cytokines". Cellular Immunology 2000;199(1):25-36.
- DellaCioppa G, Grill LK. "Production of novel compounds in higher plants by transfection with RNA viral vectors". IN: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 792 Engineering Plants for Commercial Products and Applications Ed. G.B. Collins and R.J. Shepherd 1996;792:57-61
- Kumagai MH, Donson J, DellaCioppa G, Harvey D, Hanley K, Grill LK. "Cytoplasmic Inhibition of Carotenoid Biosynthesis with Virus-Derived Rna". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1995;92(5):1679-1683.
- Turpen TH, Reinl SJ, Charoenvit Y, Hoffman SL, Fallarme V, Grill LK. "Malarial Epitopes Expressed on the Surface of Recombinant Tobacco Mosaic-Virus". Bio-Technology 1995;13(1):53-57.
- Kumagai MH, Sverlow GG, DellaCioppa G, Grill LK. "Conversion of Starch to Ethanol in A Recombinant Saccharomyces-Cerevisiae Strain Expressing Rice Alpha-Amylase from A Novel Pichia-Pastoris Alcohol Oxidase Promoter". Bio-Technology 1993;11(5):606-610.
- Kumagai MH, Turpen TH, Weinzettl N, DellaCioppa G, Turpen AM, Donson J, Hilf ME, Grantham GL, Dawson WO, Chow TP, et al. "Rapid, High-Level Expression of Biologically-Active Alpha-Trichosanthin in Transfected Plants by An Rna Viral Vector". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1993;90(2):427-430
Dr. Grill's research focuses on the development of plant viruses as expression vectors to produce human and animal therapeutics and vaccines. He is an inventor on more than 30 issued US and foreign patents while developing of the capabilities of this technology.
After the technology was working well, the company has progressed from small quantity production in the laboratory to large scale production at its Kentucky facility. Several other production facilities have been built using this initial design. The success of the company's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma clinical trials led to Bayer Healthcare purchasing the technology to advance to the next stage of drug development.
Contact Information
| Larry Grill, PhD | ||
| Location: | Building 517, Room 225 | |
| Phone: | (909) 607- 9134 | |
| larry_grill[at symbol]kgi.edu | ||