Funding from Transformative Technology in 2017/18
Academics
- Matthew Chin, Division of Medicine
- Joseph Harvey, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Engineering Sciences
The objective of this project was to employ nature-inspired engineering to tackle manufacturing challenges in a cancer treatment known as adoptive T cell therapy. The therapy is designed to “re-educate” cancer patients’ T cells (a type of immune cell) to fight cancer. However, it is expensive and requires multiple time-consuming steps for processing. Taking clues from how T cells naturally respond to different stimuli inside the human body, the researchers sought to design a culture platform to optimise T cell proliferation. To this end, gel-based biomaterials were designed and incorporated into microfluidic devices for T cell stimulation.
Outputs and Impacts
- Biomaterial Innovation: Developed a nature-inspired biomaterial for T cell culture devices, demonstrating that T cell cytokine secretion and proliferation can be modulated by the material's stiffness. Published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2020).
Interdisciplinary Advancement: Pioneered the integration of biomaterials into microfluidic devices, introducing process intensification methods within cancer immunotherapy research. This concept led to an opinion article in Trends in Biotechnology (2020).
3D Culture System Development: The research has since been advanced by designing 3D culture systems to explore T cell behavior in complex microenvironments, offering new insights into T cell interactions and potential applications in immunotherapy.
- Publications include:
- Chin, M. H. W., Norman, M. D. A., Gentleman, E., Coppens, M.-O. & Day, R. M. A Hydrogel-Integrated Culture Device to Interrogate T Cell Activation with Physicochemical Cues. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12. PMID: 33027591, 47355– 47367 (2020).
- Chin, M. H. W., Gentleman, E., Coppens, M.- O. & Day, R. M. Rethinking Cancer Immunotherapy by Embracing and Engineering Complexity. Trends in Biotechnology 38. Special Issue: Therapeutic Biomanufacturing, 1054–1065. issn:0167-7799 (2020).
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