In Brief

The Challenge

Cell therapy is an emerging field in healthcare, particularly in oncology with patient-derived Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell immunotherapy at the forefront of these advances. The use of cryopreservation to maintain cells at a stable low temperature during transit can have a negative impact on cell viability. Additionally, it is susceptible to logistic disruptions, adding additional pressure to existing infrastructure, increasing carbon emissions, and subsequently delaying patient treatment.  

The supply chain for these products is complex, as the patient’s own cells are being used to treat them - this requires a transformation in current methods used to track and orchestrate shipments to ensure strict adherence to patient treatment timelines.  

The Solution

By removing cryopreservation from the process – and the subsequent need for cold chain storage – we believe we can mitigate the expected logistic and supply disruptions, creating a more accessible, affordable, greener, and resilient supply chain solution for valuable medical treatments.  

ambiCART is a unique disruptive digital technology that transforms the current cell therapy supply chain. It will remove the need for cell preservation and cold chain logistics and facilitate traceable shipment of live cells under ambient temperature conditions by monitoring the cell behaviour during transit to ensure they remain viable, adhere to critical quality attributes (CQAs), and are ready for the patient to receive treatment upon arrival. Although this solution focuses on the shipment of autologous CAR-T therapies (cells coming from the same original patient), this project aims to develop a standardised off-the-shelf supply chain solution that could be implemented for a range of biological products.

The Team

  • Team Lead: Dr Ruth Levey, University of Galway 
  • Team Co-Lead: Dr Ruth Tarpey, University of Galway 

Societal Impact Champion

  • Aoife Duffy, Hitech Health