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

Medical Director:
Michael Nieder, MD

Scientific Director:
Daniel Abate-Daga, PhD

Cell Therapy Facility Director:
Lavakumar Karyampudi, PhD

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

Manager Cell Therapy Core Viral Vector Production:
Danielle Steele, MS

Manager Cell Therapies Core Operations:
Albert Ribickas, MT(ASCP)HP,SBB

Facilities and Operations Manager:
Alberto van Olphen, PhD

Quality Control Manager:
Melba Marie Page, PhD

Inventory Management and Support Services Manager:
Tiffany Clement, MBA

Experimental Cell Therapy Manager:
Shelby McNemar, MS

Experimental Cell Therapies Supervisor:
Alexander Dojcinovski

Bone Marrow Transplant Supervisor:
Jennifer Adamo, BS, MLS

Bone Marrow Transplant Supervisor:
Leidy Arias-Huertas, MBA (HCA), MLS(ASCP)CM

Patient Product Handling Supervisor:
Alberto (Jay) Martinez, BS

Experimental Cell Therapy Supervisor:
Christopher Mosychuk

Experimental Cell Therapy Supervisor:
Oriana Borquez-Ojeda, MS

Quality Management Supervisor:
Ashley Goss, M. Sc.

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)