The Centre for the Production and Validation of Advanced Therapies at the University of Barcelona (Creatio), located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB-UB), is among the European partners of the IMPACT project. This five-year initiative, funded by Horizon Europe with €8.34 million, aims to develop new approaches for faster, more reliable, and large-scale manufacturing of personalized CAR T-cell therapies.
The project's kick-off meeting, held at the University of Barcelona on September 28th and 29th, brought together representatives from 15 organizations across eight countries. The project addresses the manufacturing barriers that limit access to these advanced cell therapies, which are crucial for patients with severe hematological cancers when conventional treatments have failed.
CAR T-cell therapies involve modifying a patient's own immune cells in the lab to recognize and attack specific cancer cells. However, their complexity, cost, and manufacturing time pose a significant hurdle. IMPACT aims to overcome this by developing an integrated manufacturing platform combining advanced biomanufacturing, rapid quality control, patient-specific lab models, and artificial intelligence.
One workstream will focus on lentiviral vectors, used to genetically modify cells. IMPACT aims to tenfold their production, develop more sustainable purification and stabilization methods, and implement new nanotechnology-based quality control techniques for rapid viral particle analysis.
Researchers will also create patient-specific Organ-on-Chip models—miniature lab systems mimicking human tissues—to investigate CAR cell behavior and assess efficacy and potential side effects. An AI-driven digital twin of the manufacturing process will connect production and quality control data to facilitate more consistent and individualized manufacturing.
The project also explores ways to reduce material usage, plastic waste, and the environmental impact of manufacturing. The long-term goal is to make CAR T-cell production faster, more reliable, and scalable, thereby extending its benefits to more patients.
