Innovative design and implementation of next-generation Point-of-Care CAR-T

InnoCAR-T is a Doctoral Network designed to provide training and carry out breakthrough research on the high impact field of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy in a carefully integrated academic and inter-sectoral programme. We aim to develop next-generation CAR-T therapy and deliver a set of young researchers uniquely qualified for a career in academia and/or industry.

CAR-T cell therapy represents a revolutionary advance in oncology, particularly for B cell lymphoma patients. However, long-term response is still restricted to ~50% of patients, with resistance being even more prominent in other cancers. Thus, additional innovations to overcome resistance are needed to improve CAR-T responses. Unfortunately, the currently centralized production of CAR-T hampers rapid innovation and associates with prohibitive costs, long vein-to-vein time, and poor carbon footprint due to inter-continental delivery.

InnoCAR-T aims touse innovative academic and industrial concepts to address these issues by 1. developing innovative manufacturing solutions for CAR-T production at local academic hospitals and 2. developing the next-generation of more effective CAR-Ts.

At the core of InnoCAR-T is its training objective to offer a cutting-edge multidisciplinary training programme. Herewith, outstanding young scientists can generate breakthrough ideas and assume leading positions in academia and industry. The training programme includes an array of disciplines, ranging from biomedical sciences (e.g. immunology, CAR engineering, gene-editing), physical sciences to mechanical engineering.

Industrial partners are central to the programme and provide pivotal expertise on how to translate scientific discoveries into commercial reality. Inter-sectoral partners will host Doctoral Candidates, provide key secondments and network-wide training events. Further, InnoCAR-T will foster long-term multi-disciplinary research and bilateral co-operations between academia and industry.