A new state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to helping produce modified cells for treatment of
cancer and other diseases recently opened at the Siteman Cancer Center.
 |
| Bob Boston |
| Research lab supervisor Jon Walker (left) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) center Director Gerhard Bauer prepare for a leukemia clinical trial. |
The Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) center is a haven of high-tech environmental control, comparable in some respects to the International Space Station, according to GMP Laboratory Director Gerhard Bauer.
After a celebratory open house in December, scientists transformed the GMP into an ultra-clean area accessible only to workers outfitted in special suits and protective gear.
Tight regulation of the environment makes it possible for scientists in the GMP to engineer and manipulate cells for use in a variety of medical treatments, including new therapies that harness the power of the immune system to attack cancer and genetic modifications that enhance existing vulnerabilities in tumor cells or open up new lines of attack against these cells.
"The GMP is focused on translational research — taking something developed in the lab and bringing it to the patient's bedside," Bauer said. "It's a state-of-the-art, absolutely modern facility, one of the best available in the country."
The extraordinary dedication to environmental control doesn't primarily stem from a need to keep dangerous materials from getting out. Instead, it keeps dangerous contaminants from getting into the modified cells made at the GMP.
Like a tray of surgical tools, the cells are destined for use inside patients, and have to be produced to exact standards of consistency and purity. The GMP takes its name from the FDA's term for these standards.
The GMP includes six manufacturing rooms where scientists can work independently on different projects. Designers built the rooms from durable materials and equipped them with tight security to eliminate any possibility of cross-contamination.