Helbling developing technologies for precision medicine

Experts from the Zurich-based engineering and consulting firm Helbling are developing innovative technologies in the field of personalized medicine together with partners. These aim to automate what have, up to this point, typically been technically and logistically laborious lab processes for the production of immune cells, thereby making treatments of this kind more accessible to ever more patients, further details of which can be found in a specialist article published on the Helbling website.

A major challenge in the manufacturing process of new cell products that the members of Helbling’s international teams face is the variability of the starting material, i.e. the individual cell and genetic material of each patient, which is also influenced by the individual course of the disease. This is “challenging for consistent, high-quality production, which favors homogenous, unchanging processes”. Nevertheless, Helbling has succeeded in automating both the production and the proliferation of the body’s own immune defense cells, namely CAR-T cells, which play a key role in cancer therapy.

To this end, Helbling has developed a system for separating CAR-T cells from the blood and a bioreactor for their cultivation. The new system separates the CAR-T cells from the remaining components of the blood plasma “but at speeds not achievable with systems currently on the market”. To achieve this, the Helbling team has developed what are known as elutriation chambers in addition to integrated single-use kits for coupling with sensors, valves and centrifugation components. Moreover, an internally developed software solution is used to control the system.

The new bioreactor also grows the CAR-T cells in large numbers. “Optimal gas exchange, nutrient levels, temperature, and pH must be ensured” to achieve this, the specialist article explains further.