Maximizing recovery in lentiviral downstream processing: strategies from development to GMP

Thursday 08:00 PDT / 11:00 EDT / 16:00 BST / 17:00 CEST

Sponsor

Maximizing recovery in lentiviral downstream processing: strategies from development to GMP

This roundtable gathers lentiviral manufacturing experts to discuss what improves downstream process performance, from harvest through final formulation. The focus is on candid, experience-based insight from real programs, beginning with where vector recovery is truly lost and the practical moves that protect yield without compromising purity or infectivity.

Those same trade-offs carry across the purification workflow, spanning clarification, chromatography strategy, and tangential flow filtration (TFF), with guidance on optimizing concentration and diafiltration to reduce product losses. The panel will also share how they scale these processes from development into GMP manufacturing, drawing on lessons learned across clinical and commercial programs.

The discussion will round off by looking ahead, weighing emerging purification technologies such as new affinity resins and intensified processing against the real trade-offs between purity, yield, and cost.

What attendees will gain:

Pinpoint where lentiviral recovery breaks down, and how to protect yield without trading away purity or infectivity
Get TFF right, with practical approaches to concentration and diafiltration that cut product losses
Scale with confidence from development to GMP, using lessons from clinical and commercial programs
See where purification is heading, from new affinity resins to intensified processing, and where it delivers

René Gantier, PhD

Senior Director, R&D, Advanced Bioprocess Applications at Repligen

René Gantier is Senior Director, R&D, Advanced Bioprocess Applications at Repligen, where he provides strategic and technical leadership in the development of advanced bioprocessing technologies and next-generation manufacturing solutions.

With more than 20 years of experience spanning bioprocess development, purification, and manufacturing innovation, he has built deep expertise across biologics, monoclonal antibodies, and cell and gene therapies.

In his current role, René leads initiatives focused on process intensification, smart manufacturing, and digitally enabled bioprocess control, with particular emphasis on process analytical technology, automation, and integrated data-driven workflows for advanced therapies.

Prior to joining Repligen, he led the Biotech Process R&D team at Pall Life Sciences, driving the development of end-to-end upstream and downstream continuous bioprocessing solutions and advancing the integration of real-time analytics, automation, and digitally enabled process intensification.

René holds an MSc in Cell Biology from the University of Nantes, France, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Rouen, France.

Ishtiaque Rashid

Scientist III at Genezen

Ishtiaque Rashid is a Downstream Process Development Scientist at Genezen, where he develops and optimizes downstream manufacturing processes for pseudotyped enveloped viral vectors, including lentiviral vectors (LVV), retroviral vectors (RVV), and VSV-G–pseudotyped vectors. He began his career in academia as a faculty member before transitioning to the biotechnology industry, gaining extensive experience across viral vectors, monoclonal antibodies, and plasmid DNA.

Prior to joining Genezen, Ishtiaque served as a Lead Scientist in Downstream Process Development at National Resilience and Thermo Fisher Scientific. His scientific background in DNA repair research and protein purification, combined with his expertise in process development for advanced biologics, has enabled him to contribute to the translation of innovative cell and gene therapies from development to manufacturing.