Treating Inherited Retinal Disorders with Ocugen's Dr. Arun Upadhyay
We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message.In episode 116 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Host Erin Harris talks to Dr. Arun Upadhyay, Chief Scientific officer, Head of Research and Development at Ocugen to discuss how the company’s modifier gene therapy platform is redefining treatment possibilities for inherited retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt disease, and geographic atrophy. Dr. Upadhyay explains how Ocugen’s gene-agnostic approach differs from traditional single-gene therapies by targeting shared disease pathways to preserve photoreceptors and slow vision loss across diverse genetic mutations. He also shares key lessons learned from advancing OCU400, the first modifier gene therapy to receive a broad FDA indication for retinitis pigmentosa, including challenges in clinical trial design, endpoint selection, and manufacturing scalability.Subscribe to the podcast!Apple | Spotify | YouTube Visit my website: Cell & Gene Connect with me on LinkedIn
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Advancing Hematology and Cell Therapy Innovation with AstraZeneca's Aliya Omer
We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message.Episode 115 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast features Host Erin Harris' talk with Aliya Omer, Vice President and Global Head of Hematology and Cell Therapy at AstraZeneca. Omer shares valuable insights from her rich experience leading cell therapy development across multiple top companies. She highlights the critical importance of collaboration by breaking down silos across research, manufacturing, regulatory, and commercial teams to deliver innovative therapies efficiently. She also discusses AZ’s diverse and ambitious cell therapy portfolio, encompassing autologous CAR-T, TCR-T, in vivo gene therapies, and regulatory T-cell therapies. She candidly addresses current challenges in manufacturing scalability, patient access, and healthcare system readiness and describes how AZ is prioritizing fast manufacturing platforms and ecosystem-wide partnerships to surmount these hurdles. Subscribe to the podcast!Apple | Spotify | YouTube Visit my website: Cell & Gene Connect with me on LinkedIn
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Advancing Allogeneic Cell Therapy for SCI and Blindness with Lineage's Brian Culley
We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message.On episode 114 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Host Erin Harris talks to Brian Culley, CEO of Lineage Cell Therapeutics, about advancing cell therapy beyond oncology and into transformative treatments for conditions such as spinal cord injury and blindness. Culley shares how Lineage’s allogeneic, off-the-shelf approach, anchored by its OPC1 program, aims to replace lost or damaged cells to restore function, starting with patients who have plateaued after chronic spinal cord injury. He details the DOSED study’s innovative delivery device and thaw-and-inject formulation, both designed to simplify administration, enhance safety, and improve patient access. Harris and Culley also explore Lineage's broader vision for commercial viability in cell transplantation and its collaborative work with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to drive awareness, research, and investment in spinal cord injury therapies.Subscribe to the podcast!Apple | Spotify | YouTube Visit my website: Cell & Gene Connect with me on LinkedIn
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How AI and ML Drive iPSC Quality with Aspen Neuroscience's Thorsten Gorba, Ph.D.
We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message.Welcome to Episode 113 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast. Host Erin Harris is joined by Thorsten Gorba, Ph.D., VP Process Development at Aspen Neuroscience to explore how the company is advancing the field of cell therapy manufacturing. Aspen Neuroscience stands at the forefront of integrating machine vision and AI/ML to assess induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) colony quality by offering a transformative approach to move beyond the subjective nature of manual evaluation. Dr. Gorba discusses how these technologies bolster reproducibility and scalability and help reduce variability in starting materials. He also covers the regulatory angle, including how the FDA is evaluating digital quality control tools. Subscribe to the podcast!Apple | Spotify | YouTube Visit my website: Cell & Gene Connect with me on LinkedIn
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Inside Sanofi’s Genomic Medicine Vision with Mike Quigley, Ph.D.
We love to hear from our listeners. Send us a message.On episode 112 of Cell & Gene: The Podcast, Michael Quigley, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Global Head of Research at Sanofi talks to Host Erin Harris about the establishment of Sanofi’s dedicated Genomic Medicine Unit (GMU). Dr. Quigley emphasizes in vivo delivery and process optimization to improve patient experience, scalability, and global access. They discuss the importance of partnerships with academia, industry, and regulators, and Dr. Quigley discusses how advances in AI are accelerating research efficiency, molecule optimization, and experimental design across Sanofi’s portfolio. He also points to the breakthroughs likely to revolutionize immunology and gene therapy, such as solutions to pre-existing immunity barriers, improved tissue-specific delivery, regulated and reversible gene therapies, and more precise gene editing. Cell & Gene: The Podcast and Cell & Gene are part of the Life Science Connect family of resources.Subscribe to the podcast!Apple | Spotify | YouTube Visit my website: Cell & Gene Connect with me on LinkedIn
Cell & Gene, the most valuable online resource for delivering in-depth content from authoritative authors and sources to professionals in the CGT sector, introduces Cell & Gene: The Podcast. In each episode, Cell & Gene Chief Editor, Erin Harris, will talk to industry and academic leaders about their current initiatives and how they are moving the sector forward.
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