Saturday and Sunday, August 12-13

Monday, August 14

5:15-6:30pm Early Registration and CELLutions SUMMIT Networking Reception

Tuesday, August 15

7:30am Registration and Breakfast Workshops (Sponsorships Available)

Models for Therapeutic Development

8:15 Chair’s Remarks

10:30 Coffee Break, Poster and Exhibit Viewing 

Bioreactors

11:30 A Bioreactor System Designed for Production of Personalized Therapeutics
Mark Hirschel, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Biovest International, Inc.
Widespread acceptance of personalized medicine has led to a new criterion for large scale production of biologics. As these therapeutics approach clinical application, production processes typically associated with mass production are applied to products intended to treat a single patient. To facilitate this, a novel hollow fiber bioreactor was designed to address the multi-product facility, technician interaction, data collection, and segregation issues associated with the production of patient-specific biologics. More specifically, this closed system was designed to be suitable for concurrent production of multiple products in a GMP regulated facility.

12:00  Rethinking the Bioreactor
Joe Bielitzki, DVM, Professor and Associate Director, NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida
The physical environment of the engineered tissue construct determines much of the constructs functionality. Bioreactors are starting to evolve as the sophistication of the construct increases, but new technology and science is required to produce cellular systems that are phenotypical of the cells when in vivo. Bioreactors, whether perfusion, rotating vessel, fractal or microfluidic need to meet the complex needs of the differentiating, developing and mature construct. Constructs may need new strategies involving, media, gas mixtures and bioreactors to move to the next level.

12:30 Lunch Break, Technology Workshops (Sponsorships Available)

2D vs 3D Models

2:00 Chair’s Remarks

2:05 Using Automation to Enhance the Utility of 3D Cell Culture for Tissue Engineering
Robin Felder, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology; Director, Medical Automation Research Center, The University of Virginia 
High throughput screening, cell-based assays and biotech drug production are processes in need of a novel cell culture paradigm that improves both yield and quality. However, cell culture remains principally a manual method. Novel 3D cell culture systems are emerging on automation platforms, which will virtually eliminate the need for human interaction as well as be able to feed cells on nutrition demand, instead of schedule. Improved phenotype in a variety of cells (HEK293, CHO, MDCK, C2C12) and response in biochemical assays (cAMP, a+K+ATPase, Succinate Dehydrogenase) have been obtained. 3D cell growth also improves cell transfection through electroporation and cell recovery following cryopreservation. When automated 3D cell culture is optimized with new serum-free media formulations, it will be possible to provide an optimal, reproducible, and steady supply of cells for various applications including cartilage and ventricle repair. The added benefit of automated 3D cell culture is that it will allow computer controlled scheduling and production of cells and tissues.

2:35 Challenges and Strategies for in vitro Cell Expansion in 2D and 3D Cell Culture
Mohamed Al-Rubeai, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemical Engineering, University College Dublin
Understanding the kinetics and mechanisms of cell proliferation and cell attachment allows the optimisation of seeding, growth and harvesting conditions which are the key factors in stem cell expansion. This talk will present data on the expansion of chondroprogenitor cells in 2D and 3D cultures and on factors that limit the development of large scale cell expansion operation.

3:05 Technology Watch 
Hi-Spots:-3D Organotypic Cultures on an Air-liquid Interface
Professor Lars Sundstrom, CSO, Capsant Neurotechnologies LTD
Capsant Neurotechnologies have developed a 3D-tissue culture system based re-aggregated tissues formed on an air liquid interface. Cultures can easily be generated from primary tissues, frozen cells or from stem cells and reform to give ‘organotypic’ characteristics in-vitro. Various tissue sources can be used to generate Hi-Spots including the central nervous system, pancreas, liver and heart, from either animal or human sources when available.

3:35 Refreshment Break, Poster and Exhibit Viewing

4:15 Micro- and Nanoscale Technologies for 3D Tissue Engineering
Ali Khademhosseini, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Harvard / MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital 
Tissues are highly organized in their geometry and architecture with respect to how cells are positioned relative to each other, as well as to the surrounding soluble factors and extracellular matrix molecules within a given microenvironment. Most existing methods of generating tissues in 3D have not been able to recapitulate the proper microstructure and function of 3D tissues in the body. The merger of microscale technologies and novel biomaterials is a potential approach to generate tissues that mimic the complexity of tissues in the body. The talk will describe the current state-of-the-art in the application of microscale technologies for 3D cell culture. Specifically, I will describe our work in controlling the 3D cellular microenvironment by encapsulation within engineered microscale biomaterials, by using microstructures to generate homogeneous microtissues, by controlling the spatial distribution of cells and molecules within hydrogels and by directly engineering the microvasculature into 3D structures.

4:45 3D Culture System as a Model for Studying Anticancer Drug Sensitivity to Cancer Cell Invasion
Charles Doillon, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Oncology and Endocrinology, CHUL Research Center, Laval University
Cancer patient therapy consists of established chemotherapy protocols, often as part of multiple drug cocktails that are selected according to tumor specificity and stages. However, cancer cell response of patient susceptibility to chemotherapy, including resistance to chemotherapy and the emergence of new anti-cancer drugs are concerns in the therapy management. In cancer research, in vitro tissue models are becoming more popular in research than conventional monolayer cell cultures used for drug screening. Moreover, the development of tissue engineered culture models is based on the combination of extracellular matrices, mimicking in vivo environment, and cells facilitating their differentiation. Accordingly, we have developed a screening assay using a composite and versatile 3-D culture system in which cancer cell potential can be investigated qualitatively and quantitatively (e.g., growth of primary and microsatellite tumors, cell activity/death, cell invasion, and relative sensitivity/resistance to anticancer drugs).

5:15 Living in Three Dimensions - Synthetic Nanofibrillar Surfaces for Cell Culture 
Melvin Schindler, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University
Recent work has provided strong evidence that the highly porous nanotopography that results from the three dimensional (3D) associations of ECM/BM nanofibrils is essential for the reproduction of physiological patterns of cell adherence, cytoskeletal organization, migration, signal transduction, morphogenesis, and differentiation in cell culture. Better approximations of these nanostructured surfaces are urgently required for more physiologically mimetic model systems to study both normal and abnormal functions of cells, tissues, and organs. In addition, such surfaces are imperative for more accurate cell based assays of drug sensitivity, high-throughput drug discovery assays, and ex vivo growth of tissues for applications in regenerative medicine. The presentation will describe the use of a novel three-dimensional nanofibrillar surface composed of electrospun polyamide nanofibers for the culture of a variety of cell types.

5:45 Close of Day