Scaling-up islet replacement therapies to combat type 1 diabetes
The group of Cure One group leader Associate Professor Françoise Carlotti received EUR600.000 from Breakthrough T1D to advance their research on novel islet replacement therapies for type 1 diabetes. The team will use the funding to implement innovative technologies that allow upscaling of manufactured stem cell-derived islets. The results should ultimately contribute to clinical implementation of next-generation therapies for type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients at large scale.
A next generation of islet replacement therapy
A next generation of islet replacement therapy
Over the last decades, researchers worldwide have made significant progress in manufacturing insulin-producing pancreatic islets from stem cells. Transplantations of these so-called stem cell islets are currently in clinical trial and show great promise to restore glycemic control in patients affected by severe forms of T1D.
The research group of Françoise Carlotti is working towards their own product of stem cell islets and have set great steps towards clinical use.
Carlotti: “We successfully adapted our protocols into a full 3D suspension and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant process. We combined this with an innovative method that purifies our stem cell islets and removes off-target cells from the product. We will now set the next step.”
Bottleneck
Moving these promising therapies to the clinic, there is a huge unmet need for novel technologies that enable scaling and ensure stem cell islets reach patients at large scale.
“Producing homogeneous, safe and high-quality islets is a challenging process,” explains Carlotti. “With millions of T1D-patients worldwide that could benefit from such transplant and each requiring approximately one billion cells – scaling up this process is crucial.”
Scaling through automation
In the new project, the team will explore the use of novel technologies for manufacturing stem cell islets. These technologies focus amongst other things on automation, increased control and real-time monitoring of the process. Their implementation should eventually lead to improved robustness of the manufacturing process and increased yield and purity of the resulting product.
“Our hope is that this will contribute to the development of a next generation islet replacement therapy which has the potential to cure patients with type 1 diabetes at large scale in the future,” concluded Carlotti.