From bench to 1,000 L: maintaining CQAs and controlling COGS in AAV and LVV scale

Eduard is a leading expert in gene therapy and viral vector platforms. He was the Founder and CEO of DINAMIQS since 2021 and became Chief Technology Officer when the company was acquired by Siegfried in 2023. Previously, he was CTO of DiNAQOR, a gene therapy company focused on cardiac and kidney therapies. Earlier, he was Head of Innovative Vectorology at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) and Scientific Director of the Translational Vector Core at University of Nantes. In the past he was vice-president of the SFTCG and chairman of the Manufacturing Committee of the ESGCT. Eduard has a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a DVM from the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Nick DePrimo is a Director of Cell Culture and Upstream Process Development within Roche Innovation Center - Philadelphia (RICP), which is part of Genentech/Roche. He holds a Master of Science degree from Drexel University along with over 15 years of industry experience spanning early and late phase large molecule and rAAV gene therapy process development, technology transfer, process validation, and commercialization. Nick is a skilled scientist and people leader, currently focused on progressing early and late phase clinical programs through their lifecycle phases within Roche's gene therapy portfolio, using innovative technologies to improve the upstream process, and optimizing workflows in daily operations.

Martina Brunati holds a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, a Master of Science in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, and a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology. She is the Upstream Vector Process Development Senior Manager at AGC Biologics' Milan site. Her journey with the company began in 2015 as a development laboratory scientist, and then steadily advanced in position and responsibility. In her current position, she leads a team of 23 scientists dedicated to designing, optimizing, and scaling up upstream processes for LVV, AAV and exosome manufacturing in cell and gene therapy fields. Her team contributed in the establishment of ProntoLVV™ and BravoAVV™ manufacturing platforms, a scalable, ready-to-use and GMP compliant solutions that have already been transferred into manufacturing area to support clinical and commercial supply of our clients. Her experience and knowledge are available for translating innovative therapies from the laboratory to GMP-compliant industrial production, as well as for scale down model qualification and process characterization studies for processes approaching commercial phase.

Franz has over 15 years of experience working in the development, characterisation, manufacturing, and QC release of biological products. Prior to joining AAVantgarde to head up the process and analytical development team, Franz led the analytical group at Gyroscope Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis in 2022) where he managed the control strategy development for rAAV viral vectors including stability, tech transfer, comparability, and device compatibility studies. Prior to Gyroscope, Franz gained experience with lentiviral vectors and ex vivo gene therapies during his time at GSK. In addition, he broadened his horizon on manufacturing speed and release testing of vaccines as CMC lead at CEPI. Franz began his career as QC Scientist at Baxter Healthcare. He holds an MSc in Analytical Biotechnology from Cranfield University and a BSc in Bioengineering.