Implementing a closed cell therapy manufacturing process through strategic collaboration

Xavier de Mollerat du Jeu, Ph.D. is the Senior Director of Research and Development in the Cell and Gene Therapy business unit at Thermo Fisher Scientific, developing new products and solutions for cell therapy manufacturing. Prior to this, Xavier was the director of R&D cell and gene therapy in Carlsbad, California, working on developing new closed modular platforms for the clinical manufacture of T cells. Xavier also identified new DNA delivery approaches for hard to transfect cell lines and primary/stem cells and he is the inventor of Lipofectamine® 3000 and the author of several patents around nucleic acid delivery. Additionally, his research focused on new delivery solutions for CRISPR delivery, scalable lentiviral production solutions, mechanical delivery approaches for primary T cells and in vivo delivery of RNAi/mRNA for research and therapeutic application. His team is dedicated to bringing new viral and non-viral delivery solutions for T cells engineering and manufacturing, including automation and closed systems. Xavier studied molecular biology and plant physiology at the University of Montpellier II in France and received his Ph.D. in human genetics in 2003 from Clemson University in South Carolina. His thesis work involved identifying the gene(s) responsible for Split Hand/Split Foot Malformation 3 (SHFM 3). His post-doctoral fellowship research was in the laboratory of Dr. Michael G. Rosenfeld at UCSD, where he studied the roles of microRNAs in pituitary gland development. He joined Invitrogen (Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific) in 2005.

Øystein’s professional experience is derived from different leadership positions in R&D, Product Management and Business for over 22 years in Thermo Fisher Scientific, he is responsible for development and commercialization of products and services for the cell therapy market. His scientific training is in the field of molecular cell biology and he received a PhD from the University of Oslo. Øystein’s academic career focused on the study of physiological & molecular mechanisms of tumor cell growth and the development of novel therapies for the treatment of solid tumors in collaboration with Norsk Hydro.

Dr. Shy is Director of the UCSF Experimental Cell Therapy Group and GMP facility. He trained at UCSF in Cell Therapy and Transfusion Medicine, and completed his post-doc with Alex Marson exploring therapeutic applications of CRISPR T cell engineering. His research focuses on developing tools, technologies, and applications for cell therapy manufacturing in the academic setting.