by
Ashley Krull, PhD
Associate Director, Cell Therapy Manufacturing and Engineering
James Cancer Hospital Cellular Therapy Laboratory
Assistant Professor, Hematology
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio, United States
The ISCT Laboratory Practices Committee (LPC) outdid themselves in 2023, turning out record numbers of roundtable sessions and record views of LPC Snapshot pieces in the Telegraft. Readership quadrupled over the course of the year! If that doesn’t give you a clue as to the value and insights to be found in these pieces, I don’t know what will. What’s more, if you didn’t know, most of the pieces are offered in the form of easy-to-digest slides that can be quickly referenced repeatedly (speaking from personal experience).
The year started off particularly strong with a piece in January by Dr. Yvette Tanhehco, MD, Ph.D, in which she provided an exceptional overview of environmental monitoring in the laboratory, including how to interpret the data collected to stay in compliance with regulatory requirements. This piece was followed in March by a deep dive into endotoxin testing and validation authored by Sufira Kiran, DCLS, MLS(ASCP). Both of these Snapshots should be required reading for anyone working in a cellular therapy laboratory and make excellent refresher courses for all CGT professionals.
The Snapshots for May and July turned their focus onto topics concerning hematopoietic stem cell collections. Dr. Maggie DiGuardo, MD, and Sarah Love Wittwer, MLS(ASCP), from the Mayo Clinic outlined data on reasons for the increasing number of unrelated donors requiring a second day of collection and generosity shared an algorithm they developed for predicting two-day collections to anticipate staffing needs. In July, Dr. Elena Maryamchik, MD, shared an extensive overview of post-thaw viability testing and related her lab’s own experience with implementing a post-thaw viability testing system. This article was deemed a must-read for any expanding cell therapy lab.
Finally, if you want to review those phenomenal, record number of roundtable and concurrent sessions organized by the LPC – at least for the ISCT North America Regional Meeting – check out the piece from October compiled by yours truly on behalf of the entire LPC. I recount the engaging presentations and discussions had around topics spanning workforce development, when things go wrong, business operations, release assay qualification, point of care manufacturing, and the evolution of stem cell processing labs.
Look out for more can’t-miss Snapshots from the LPC in 2024 and ever more intriguing and valuable conference sessions in Vancouver!
#LabPractices