In the past decade, emerging therapeutic modalities like cell and gene therapies have opened up new treatment options for previously intractable diseases, changing the industry needs for primary tissues. While autologous therapies—which are created using a patient’s own cells—still dominate the field, many cell and gene developers are investing in allogeneic therapies that can be […]
Primary cells, such as those isolated from the bone marrow or peripheral blood, are important for a wide scope of research and clinical applications – from studying molecular mechanisms driving disease progression, to developing ex vivo therapies in regenerative medicine. Unlike immortalized cell lines, primary cells have a finite lifespan in culture and can undergo unwanted changes like genetic drift and […]
Adoptive cell therapies (ACTs), which is a treatment based on transferring cells (most often immune cells) into a patient, have revolutionized the standard of care to treat a broad range of diseases. It has perhaps made the most impact in cancer immunotherapy where the successes of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies to treat […]
Isolated human primary cells are able to retain the morphological and functional characteristics of their tissue of origin, which makes them invaluable tools in life sciences to advance our understanding of cellular biology and molecular mechanisms that are aiding researchers in the development of novel therapeutic approaches to treat human diseases. For instance, primary lymphocytes […]
T cells are the main effector cells of the adaptive immune system and can be distinguished from other white blood cells by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell surface. Differentiated from bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem cells, T cells migrate from the thymus gland where they mature into CD4+ and CD8+ T […]
B cells are lymphocytes that are part of the adaptive humoral immune system and are best known for their ability to produce antigen-specific antibodies. B cells express B cell receptors (BCRs) on their cell surface that allow for antigen binding, against which it will initiate an antibody response. The ‘B’ in B cells was actually […]
Welcome to the second installment of our FAQ blog series! Today, we are looking at differences between CD34+ cells isolated from different tissue sources to provide a better understanding of this important cell population. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are an important and rare population of cells that reside in a specialized niche within the bone […]
While next generation cell-based treatments like CAR-T immunotherapies have been the source of much excitement and clinical investment in recent years, cellular therapies have a long, established history in the clinic. Bone marrow (BM) or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has been the standard of care to treat a variety of blood and immune system diseases […]
Welcome to the first installment of the FAQ series here on the AllCells blog where we will answer some key questions relating to hematological tissue products. Today, we will unpack the difference between buffy coat isolation and leukapheresis from peripheral blood. Let’s start with some definitions: BUFFY COAT – a cellular fraction containing platelets […]
With the FDA approvals of several cell therapy products (Kymriah® and Yescarta®) and many more cell therapies progressing towards clinical trials, sourcing high-quality cellular materials has become a critical determinant of cell therapy development success. Particularly as allogeneic approaches to cell therapies become more feasible, access to donor cells that meet regulatory, quality, and quantity […]
