Hertfordshire LEP has invested £3m in supporting a new Cell and Gene Therapy Integration Laboratory at CGTC, exclusively dedicated to the provision of cell and gene therapy manufacturing training.
Why?
Learners will be trained using state-of-the-art equipment capable of large-scale manufacture to meet the need for skilled workers to accelerate the scale-up of cell and gene therapy companies locally.
The laboratory supports the national drive for skills development within the cell and gene therapy industry, and complements existing skills initiatives coordinated by CGT Catapult, including the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN) and the Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community (ATAC).
The funding will allow CGT Catapult to equip the laboratory with the latest digital technologies including augmented reality, high-throughput manufacturing platforms and advanced analytics for the industrial manufacture of cell and gene therapies.
Impact
This will support the national drive for skills development within the industry.
This investment will help expand upon the industry-leading capabilities available at CGT Catapult, including at the facility in Stevenage which has been instrumental to the growth of the UK’s cell and gene therapy industry.
The cell and gene therapy cluster around Stevenage has also recently been recognised as a High Potential Opportunity zone, set to attract overseas investment to the area to further strengthen the UK’s sectorial advantage.
Funding
Hertfordshire LEP previously supported CGTC with a £2.9m investment as it expanded its Manufacturing Centre in Stevenage to facilitate the growth and delivery scale required to bring personalised medicines of the future to market.
The funding has helped provide new analytical technologies to be used in the quality control of cell and gene therapies, enabling the centre’s SME collaborators to scale up their manufacturing processes for clinical trial and commercial supply.
This project was approved by the board on the 24th September 2020.
