UBC T-cell therapy research gets boost from Collaborative Health Research Projects grant

image

The article below originally appeared on the website of UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories.

T-cells, white blood cells that can trigger or suppress immune responses, have long been seen as a cell type that could provide life-changing immunotherapies. Contrary to using chemotherapy or immunosuppressive drugs that have many negative side-effects, T-cell therapies work by amplifying natural human mechanisms. James Piret, a professor at the Michael Smith Laboratories and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, has been investigating cell-based therapies for decades, contributing towards improved treatments for major diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

This year, Piret and his collaborators Megan Levings and Bhushan Gopaluni received a three-year Collaborative Health Research Project (CHRP) operating grant of over $600,000. CHRP grants are a joint initiative between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). They support focused, interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects involving both natural sciences or engineering and a field of the health sciences.

With this grant, Piret and his collaborators aim to produce T-cells that suppress other immune cells for therapeutic purposes, such as to avoid transplant rejection or to reduce autoimmune disorders.

In order to do this, the team must first develop methods to increase the number of cells produced for treatment and to reduce the overall costs of cell manufacturing. This step will be dependent on the research conducted to increase the understanding and control of T-cell cultures. These T-cell manufacturing technology advances will then be networked by CellCAN and its affiliated cell therapy manufacturing facilities across Canada, informing other promising clinical treatments of the new technologies available for cell manufacturing.

Although there is still much research and development to be done, T-cell therapies have been shown to be highly effective and could ultimately revolutionize the way patients are treated.

 

Let's Work Together

Join us. Bring research and innovation insight to your biggest challenges. We work with industry, non-profit and government partners to accelerate solutions for the future.

Partner with Us
UBC Crest The official logo of the University of British Columbia. Arrow An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Caret An arrowhead indicating direction. E-commerce Cart A shopping cart. Time A clock. Chats Two speech clouds. Facebook The logo for the Facebook social media service. Social Media The globe is the default icon for a social media platform. TikTok The logo for the TikTok social media platform. Calendar Location Home A house in silhouette. Information The letter 'i' in a circle. Instagram The logo for the Instagram social media service. Linkedin The logo for the LinkedIn social media service. Location Pin A map location pin. Mail An envelope. Telephone An antique telephone. Play A media play button. Search A magnifying glass. Arrow indicating share action A directional arrow. Speech Bubble A speech bubble. Star An outline of a star. Twitter The logo for the Twitter social media service. Urgent Message An exclamation mark in a speech bubble. User A silhouette of a person. Vimeo The logo for the Vimeo video sharing service. Youtube The logo for the YouTube video sharing service. Future of work A logo for the Future of Work category. Inclusive leadership A logo for the Inclusive leadership category. Planetary health A logo for the Planetary health category. Solutions for people A logo for the Solutions for people category. Thriving cities A logo for the Thriving cities category. University for future A logo for the University for future category.