In-line digital holographic microscopy for automated QC and process control in cell therapy manufacturing

“细胞疗法和免疫疗法的最新进展正在改变现代医学的面貌。特别是一种新的治疗方法——由患者自身免疫细胞制成的CAR-T疗法——给癌症患者带来了新的希望。这些疗法的缺点是，使用目前的方法生产它们非常昂贵，因此公共医疗系统负担不起。自动化是提高细胞治疗生产效率和成本的关键。阻碍这一领域进展的一个因素是，目前的过程控制和监测技术要么不足，要么涉及大量的人工输入。该项目的目的是开发一种新型的在线测量系统，该系统利用数字全息显微镜的力量直接在生物反应器系统中对细胞进行3D成像。然后，机器学习软件将解释图像，生成一组丰富的测量数据，可用于实时优化流程的速度和质量。开发这项技术将使英国初创公司Oxford MEStar和See-Through Scientific在快速增长的CAR-T制造市场上拥有世界一流的竞争优势。”

"Recent advances in cell therapy and immunotherapy are changing the face of modern medicine. In particular a new type of treatment -- CAR-T therapy, made from the patient's own immune cells -- is offering new hope to cancer patients. The drawback of these treatments is that they are extraordinarily expensive to produce using current methods and hence are unaffordable to public healthcare systems.Automation is key to making cell therapy manufacturing more efficient and more affordable. One factor holding back progress in this area is that current technologies for process control and monitoring are either inadequte or involve a high level of manual input.The aim of this project is to develop a new type of in-line measurement system that uses the power of digital holographic microscopy to image cells in 3D directly within a bioreactor system. Machine learning software will then interpret the images to generate a rich set of measurements that can be used to optimise the speed and quality of the process in real time.Developing this technology will give UK startups Oxford MEStar and See-Through Scientific a world-beating competitive edge in the rapidly growing CAR-T manufacturing market."