Gene and cell therapies enable the treatment of diseases that have previously been difficult to treat, such as certain types of cancer or hereditary diseases. Currently, this form of therapy is only available to a small number of patients – a major reason being the complex and still inadequate production processes. This is where the MATTIE research project at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) comes in.
Led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Denise Salzig and Prof. Dr. Michael Wolff (Competence Center for Biotechnology and Biomedical Physics, Institute of Bioprocess Engineering and Pharmaceutical Technology), the project team is working to improve the industrial production of cell and gene therapies. The Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is funding the project with approximately €2.6 million over four years. The project is being implemented as an individual project.
“Our goal is to improve the production processes of therapeutics so that all patients benefit,” summarizes Prof. Salzig. The official title of the project is “Production and Quality of Next-Generation Therapeutics: Therapeutic Viruses and Extracellular Vesicles.” The focus includes establishing a research space for the development and production of nanoparticulate therapeutics—tiny, natural active ingredients such as viruses—as well as developing new production platforms that meet stringent pharmaceutical quality requirements. Furthermore, the project aims to train as many specialists as possible and foster the next generation of scientists.
The project is divided into three areas: One third of the money will be invested to build a suitable research space and equip laboratories so that the team can analyze the smallest particles using special equipment.
Building on this foundation, the team is working to optimize the process steps – from cultivating suitable cells and viruses to maximizing yields, thus enabling the efficient, scalable, and quality-controlled production of these therapeutics. The aim is to develop innovative production methods to ensure manufacturing on an industrial scale. Two nanotherapeutics are being investigated: the modified vaccinia Ankara virus, which is used as a safe viral vector in gene therapy, and extracellular vesicles – small bubbles released by cells that transport substances between cells – which possess great medical potential. The professor illustrates the complexity of the project: “Manufacturing aspirin is like riding a bike, producing antibodies is like driving a car, producing viruses can be compared to flying an airplane – and producing cells is like flying a rocket. Every detail has to be perfect.”
The third focus of the project is on qualification and knowledge transfer: "The goal is not only to qualify students and doctoral candidates, but also to establish Professional Development opportunities," she emphasizes. This applies both within THM and externally – to make the best possible use of and dissemination of research findings. In addition, the project aims to raise public awareness of the opportunities and challenges of cell and gene therapy.