ACEA Presents xCELLigence Research Grant to Dr. Teresa Krabbe
SAN DIEGO (PRWEB) February 28, 2019 -- Teresa Krabbe, Ph.D., a student in the working group of Dr. Jennifer Altomonte at Klinikum Rechts der Isar of the Technical University Munich, has been awarded an xCELLigence Research Grant for her proposal to develop adoptive T cell therapy as a complimentary immunotherapeutic for an improved oncolytic virus platform.
Oncolytic viruses represent an exciting new aspect in the evolving field of cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Krabbe and colleagues have previously engineered a novel hybrid vector comprising vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV), named rVSV-NDV. This recombinant virus can induce tumor-specific syncytia formation, allowing for efficient cell-to-cell spread of the virus and rapid onset of immunogenic cell death. Furthermore, the toxicity associated with the wildtype VSV has been abrogated through this engineering approach.
Nevertheless, as with all oncolytic viruses, the relative inefficiency of systemic delivery of the vector remains a major challenge. To address this issue, Krabbe hypothesized that adoptively transferred T cell receptor transgenic T (TCR-T) cells could be used as cell carriers to deliver the rVSV-NDV viruses and to provide synergistic effector functions. To generate preliminary data to support her hypothesis, she will employ in vitro studies which will be facilitated by the xCELLigence RTCA system.
The goals of this study include 1) the characterization of the fusogenic oncolytic rVSV-NDV by impedance monitoring, and 2) the evaluation of an innovative strategy combining VSV-NDV with TCR-T as a delivery vehicle for the virus or using the virus to prime the tumor cells for a more effective T cell therapy. With the xCELLigence RTCA platform, Dr. Krabbe will be able to illustrate the synergistic effect in vitro in real-time.
“I am thrilled about the opportunity to work with the xCELLigence to continuously monitor tumor cells infected with our fusogenic oncolytic virus. It will greatly improve our ability to track the morphological changes that occur at very early stages of infection,” stated Dr. Krabbe. “We are working on a combination of our oncolytic virus platform with TCR-T cells and hope to illustrate a synergistic effect in vitro by real time cell analysis with the xCELLigence.”
“In September 2018, we awarded the first xCELLigence Immunotherapy Research grant to a young postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Cancer Center for CAR-T research. We are excited to see Real Time Cell Analysis technology to be applied with the transgenic T Cell receptors in an oncolytic virus platform,” stated Dr. Yama Abassi, Vice President of ACEA Biosciences. “ We are expecting great data from this study, resulting in further collaboration between the Technical University of Munich and ACEA Bioscience.”
ACEA Biosciences is now accepting applications for the next xCELLigence Research Grant funding period, which is open to all cell analysis applications. For six months, the research grant winner will be provided access to the xCELLigence RTCA DP instrument, consumables, and consultation. Click here to apply.
About xCELLigence® Real Time Cell Analysis (RTCA)
ACEA Biosciences’ xCELLigence RTCA instruments are being used in both academia and industry for life science applications ranging from cancer immunotherapy, bacterial biofilms, vaccine development and cardiotoxicity testing. With the xCELLigence technology, scientists can non-invasively monitor the behavior of cells by quantifying cell proliferation, morphology change, and attachment quality in a label-free, real-time manner.
About ACEA Biosciences, A Part of Agilent Technologies
ACEA Biosciences, a part of Agilent Technologies, is a pioneer in the development and commercialization of high-performance cell analysis platforms for life science research. ACEA’s xCELLigence® Real-Time Cell Analysis instruments and NovoCyte® Quanteon flow cytometers are used in pre-clinical drug discovery and development, toxicology, safety pharmacology, and basic academic research. More than 3,000 instruments have been placed globally, and have been used in more than 2,000 peer-reviewed publications. For more information visit: http://www.aceabio.com. Follow on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
About Agilent Technologies
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Contact:
ACEA Biosciences, Inc.
Dr. Jeff Xue
Phone: 858-299-8023
email: jxue(at)aceabio(dot)com
Jeff Xue, Ph.D., ACEA Biosciences, Inc., http://www.aceabio.com, +1 8587240928 Ext: 3075, [email protected]
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