Author Archives: Rolf O. Ehrhardt

Maximizing PMBC Recovery and Viability: A Method to Optimize and Streamline Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Isolation, Cryopreservation, and Thawing

The quality of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from whole blood has a significant impact on their subsequent analysis. Maximizing recovery, viability, and functionality of isolated PBMCs is essential to the reliability and consistency of downstream applications, particularly within cell therapy manufacturing. The standard method for purification of PBMCs is density-gradient centrifugation. It requires precise layering of whole blood over a density medium (e.g., Ficoll polysaccharide reagent from GE Healthcare), with careful pipetting of the floating cell layer after…

Effective Cryopreservation and Recovery of Human Regulatory T Cells

The list of conditions being targeted by cell therapies is rapidly growing, but commercializing cells for widespread medical use will require standardized laboratory practices. Development processes must be adapted specifically for cell-based drug products. Regulatory T-cell therapy represents a promising new frontier in the immunotherapy of autoimmune disorders, especially for patients who have been refractory to available treatments. Because of intrinsic fragility, cell therapy products can be highly sensitive to variations in manufacturing procedures. Standardization of drug-product cryopreservation and storage…