Shared spaces and constant moves are a thing of the past for the R & D Analytical Development team. They finally have a place to call their own.
“They were a bit nomadic for a while, so it’s good that they now have a nice new home,” said Scott Jones, Chief Scientific Officer.
Jones, Trinh and the rest of the Research and Development team welcomed staff to the grand opening of the lab.
“While it was cozy sharing space with cell therapy and even confirmatory way back in the day, it’s finally nice to be able to call the space our home,” Anthony Trinh, Senior Manager, Analytical Development, said. “So as people might say. It really takes a village to renovate a lab space like that.”
He thanked his team and Support Services for their support. Tours of his new lab followed ceremonies.
What is the R & D Analytical Development Lab?
For those unfamiliar with analytical development, it serves as a support team for assays that test cell and gene therapies. The primary focus is to develop, qualify and validate assays for BBG and its clients.
“Researchers, scientists, and therapeutic developers across many spectrums must create these analytical assays to make sure that medicine does what it is supposed to do and is safe for people to use,” Trinh said.
His team consists of Ileana Pedraza, Scientist I, Analytical Development; Xiaoli Li, Scientist II, Analytical Development; and Sidney Carter, Scientist II, Analytical Development
The team is small but formidable, and each member is cross-trained to share expertise within the three major technologies used within the lab.
“We are cross-trained, so that way anyone can be available to answer questions,” Trinh said.
“For instance, Sydney is our resident flow expert. Xiaoli is our resident PCR expert, and Ileana is our ELISA and bioassay expert, but we’re all cross trained. And so, if one of us is out, we can step in and help one another.”
The team has been around since 2018, and despite their nomadic status, have had many successes, including qualifying for GMP use, three different safety assays and cell characterization assays (including over 30 different flow markers), 25 plus cytokine markers and 15 plus viral markers that are targeted by PCR.
In simpler terms, they’ve been invaluable to our lifesaving mission.
Their new space is small, but extremely organized and equipped with the proper tools to continue testing.
“We’ve done a good amount in those six years now,” Trinh said. “We’ve come a long way.”
Soon, the team looks forward to further expanding their development and qualification activities to support the growing cell and gene therapy business in BBG Advanced Therapies.
“This will be done by broadening the capabilities of the lab and quickly moving projects and assays into the production labs. The are looking to get new instruments such as a flow cytometer and a plate reader to do so.