PhD Literature Mastery Seminar – Alexander Burns, PhD Student – “rAAVs for Gene Therapy Applications and Associated Manufacturing Platforms”

Please join us for KGI PhD Student, Alexander Burns, for his PhD Literature Mastery Seminar

Recombinant Adeno-associated virus (rAAV) based gene therapies offer a better quality of life to patients with life-debilitating conditions. But the high cost of rAAV-vector manufacturing for gene therapy applications, which is passed to patients as high-cost treatments, deserves attention. Due to the relatively high cost of rAAV-based gene therapies, there is currently significant space for process development of AAV-vector manufacturing processes in both the upstream and downstream sides of these processes. Much emphasis has been placed on clinical development of rAAV-based gene therapies; thus, clinical development of rAAV vectors has outpaced manufacturing development. An AAV particle is a biologically complex unit, with many different types of proteins coming together to assemble a biologically functioning rAAV particle. Due to the biological complexity of an AAV particle, the upstream manufacturing processes for rAAV vectors are just as complex as the downstream manufacturing processes. Mammalian-cell (HEK293) and insect-cell (Sf9) rAAV manufacturing platforms are the current industry standard. But even as industry-standard platforms, these platforms need more development, on both the upstream and downstream sides of the production process. Further process development of these manufacturing platforms will help lower the costs of rAAV-based gene therapies.

Date: Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Time:  9:00 – 10:00 a.m.

Location:  121 Bldg. – Classroom 1111 (Zoom link will be included in Outlook invite to KGI Community)