Currently 1.2 million patients are receiving treatment from regenerative medicine products produced by 171 companies - so preservation issues are critical and especially in cell therapy clinical trials.  

Our colleague Ian Pope is one of the lecturers on a short course organised by Prof Alison Hubel at Minneapolis on the fundamentals of preservation, protocol development, design of a storage facility, regulatory issues associated with preservation of cell therapies and more.

Cells must be carefully preserved for storage and as they are shipped between the site of manufacture and the site of use, technique and technical issues are extra important.

Effective methods of preserving cells permit time for completion of safety and quality control testing:  these topics are important across many disciplines. The course will be held May 20-21, 2015 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and people can also participate in it via a Webcast designed to work around busy schedules. Ian will be talking on Designing a Storage Facility and sustainable Bio Bank processes.

Ian has worked in the area of cryogenic systems for over 25 years, initially as a director of Planer plc, the original manufacturer of controlled rate freezers, later managing the Bio Medical Division of MVE / Chart, and now as technical strategy consultant. He is currently working with our East coast distributor (Cryo Associates Inc, Gaithersburg, MD) as Director of Business Development.

Information on the course and lectures http://biocor.umn.edu/lecturers