Cell Therapies

The overall goal of the Cell Therapies Core (CTC) is to provide service to members to facilitate translation of promising therapies for patients with cancer. The CTC manufactures safe therapeutic cellular products in support of novel, investigator-initiated clinical studies, while maintaining compliance with standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other accrediting bodies. 

To accomplish this goal, the CTC’s Specific Aims are to:

Aim 1: Develop new technologies for translation of cellular therapies
Aim 2: Provide regulatory assistance in support of cellular therapies
Aim 3: Educate and train scientists and clinicians committed to careers in cellular therapies
Aim 4: Produce the highest quality cellular products for immunotherapy clinical trials

The CTC’s key areas of activity are:

• New product development, wherein new cell therapy products undergo pre-clinical scale-up, testing, and validation
• Cell collection and cryostorage to obtain mononuclear cells, lymphocytes, and antigen presenting cells for production of cell therapy products and immune monitoring studies
• Cell therapy product manufacturing, including dendritic and tumor cell-based gene-modified and unmodified vaccines and purification and/or expansion of T lymphocytes
• An analytic laboratory that performs the dual functions of product quality testing and post-treatment immune monitoring

CONTACTS

Cell Therapy Management Team

Technical Director:
Linda Kelley, PhD

Medical Director:
Marco Davila, MD PhD

Interim Assistant Technical Director:
Daniel Abate-Daga, PhD

Cell Therapy Core Operations Director:
Cheryl Cox, MT (ASCP), CSSMBB

Quality Assurance Director:
Lynda StJour, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CM, ASQ CQA

Bone Marrow Transplant Manager:
Albert Ribickas, MT, SBB

Facilities and Operations Manager:
Alberto van Olphen, PhD

Experimental Cell Therapy Manager:
Ana Marie Landin, PhD, CSSMBB

Analytic Laboratory Supervisor:
Melba Marie Page, PhD

BMT Supervisor:
Ben Lohrbach, MBA, MT(ASCP)

CTF Manufacturing Supervisor:
Shelby McNemar, MS

Experimental Cell Therapy Supervisor:
Christopher Mosychuk

Quality Assurance Supervisor:
Mary Ellen Mooney, MSHA, MT (AMT)

Facilities and Operations Supervisor:
Tiffany Clement

This work has been supported in part by the Cell Therapies Core at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, a comprehensive cancer center designated by the National Cancer Institute and funded in part by Moffitt’s Cancer Center Support Grant (P30-CA076292)