Freeze, Thaw, And Expand: Scale-Up T Cell Workflow In Chemically Defined Media

By Anastassia A. Tselikova, Shahram Shahabi, and Chandana Sharma, research & development department, FUJIFILM Biosciences

Developing T-cell therapeutics requires a robust, reproducible manufacturing process that minimizes cell stress and maximizes scale-up potential while achieving high cell growth. One major challenge is consistently generating enough cells of clinical quality. Using chemically defined media throughout the workflow mitigates this challenge by removing undefined components, simplifying the process and making it safer for clinical translation.

This poster details a complete chemically defined workflow for T-cell manufacturing, from cryopreservation to expansion. Results demonstrate that a DMSO-free cryopreservation medium and a complementary chemically defined T-cell culture medium support T-cell activation, lentiviral transduction, and expansion as well as, or better than, commercially available media. Importantly, cells preserved in this DMSO-free solution can be thawed directly into the culture medium, eliminating the need for a post-thaw centrifugation step, which reduces mechanical stress on the cells and streamlines the manufacturing process. The media also reliably supports scale-up in both G-Rex static culture systems and Quantum hollow fiber bioreactors.

Discover how this integrated, chemically defined solution can pave the way for consistent, reliable autologous and allogeneic T-cell therapies.