Students praise Advanced Therapies Intensive Course as ‘a rare opportunity’

We spoke to students about their experiences on an advanced therapies intensive course delivered by King’s Health Partners and the University of Pennsylvania.

King’s Health Partners and the University of Pennsylvania have collaborated to deliver an exciting one-week intensive course, providing MD and PhD participants with an overview of advanced therapies. Students proactively contacted the King’s Health Partners team to share their thoughts and praise its value.

The course was led by Dr Emma Meagher, Vice Dean and Chief Clinical Research Officer at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Prof Anne Greenough, Director of Education and Training at King’s Health Partners; and Prof Francesco Dazzi, Vice Dean (International) at King’s College London. Topics included stem cells and regenerative medicine, cell therapies and vaccines, a roadmap to finalising a product, a roadmap to commercialisation, and clinical trial ethics.

Upon completing the course, participants learnt how to:

• Understand the cutting-edge science underpinning advanced therapies.
• Become familiar with the complex regulatory landscape for development of cells for medical treatment.
• Understand the approaches to the ethical design and implementations of clinical trials.
• Appreciate the importance of producing credible business plans for the application of cellular therapies.

We spoke with two participants, one from King’s College London and one University of Pennsylvania, to find out more about their experiences on the course.

Roberto Savoldelli, PhD student at King’s College London

Please tell us your title and your research interests. 

My PhD focusses on stromal immune interaction, dissecting the polarisation of the fibroblast compartment of the tumour microenvironment in response to CAR-T cell therapies.

Can you tell us why you wanted to participate in the Advanced Therapies Intensive Course? 

I wanted to participate in this course as it offered a lot of unique opportunities. We were able to understand not only the scientific aspects of advanced therapies but also all the regulatory, bureaucratic, and clinical infrastructure needed to move our research from bench to hospital. Moreover, we had the chance to connect not only with different King’s College London departments but also over in the US with colleagues coming from different backgrounds, an important step towards building new collaboration.

What aspects of the course structure appealed to you? Were there unique elements that you found particularity interesting and/or appealing? 

The one-week intensive structure was very well organised. All the material was available in advance, so it gave you time to prepare for the workshops. The timetable during the week allowed you to really focus and enjoy the course without an overload of work and information. Before the course started, we were asked to rank our topics of interest (i.e. disease family and cell/technology type), and working groups were created around those choices. This allowed multiple perspectives on common topics which helped the dialogue but also created a personalised environment for our areas of interest. The most unique element of this course was the discussions: not only between the students but also all the different experts who participated in the conversations that resulted in a vibrant exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Do you think that participating in the course has benefited you? If yes, in what way? 

I think I benefitted a lot from this course. As a PhD student you often think only about the science behind your work but have limited knowledge on how to move your work and ideas to the next stage. This course was the perfect place to not only understand the next steps but also to learn all possible new career options in the field. It also helped to create valuable connections with fellow students and speakers enlarging my network.

What would you say to somebody interested in taking this course in future? 

I would totally recommend it. It is not only an amazing addition to your CV and your personal knowledge, but also a unique experience which will broaden your horizons. It is also really fun and enjoyable which is always a nice addition!

Thu T. Duong, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania

Please tell us your title and your research interests

My name is Thu T. Duong, a Vietnamese Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center of Advanced Retinal and Ocular Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania. My research interest is generating patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (or iPSC) and differentiating them into in vitro cellular models to study the molecular pathogenesis of inherited blindness and test gene therapy approach to rescue the disease phenotype.  

Can you tell us why you wanted to participate in the Advanced Therapies Intensive Course? 

I have a cousin who gradually lost his vision due to an accident in his childhood. He is now almost 40 years old, and his sight is mostly gone. In 2011, before I came to the US for my PhD training, he asked me to study a way to rescue his vision. This has always been my motivation in undertaking research. Although I have worked in the lab for more than 10 years, I have never had proper training on how to bring basic research to advanced therapies. The course run by King’s Health Partners and the University of Pennsylvania has been key in supporting my work.

What aspects of the course structure appealed to you? Were there unique elements that you found particularly interesting and/or appealing? 

I found the training incredibly useful. It was intensive training. I had to put serious effort into reading pre-work materials to be able to immerse myself in the new knowledge in different research fields and even outside of the research. The content of the course created a thread showing me a pathway to successful advanced therapies. It includes a wide range of essential topics, including:

• How to protect the intellectual property.
• How to ethically design a clinical trial.
• How scientists pursue and design proper experiments to study a specific disease for decades before any potential therapy gets to the clinical trial stage.
• How to commercialise advanced therapies successfully to benefit patients.
• Discuss case studies of approved advanced therapies like CAR-T or COVID-19 vaccine development and distribution.

I showed up each day with a curious mind and was amazed by the dedication from the instructors who are all experts in their fields. This is a rare opportunity. I am so honoured to be a part of the first group that benefits from the training. Thank you for organising this training. 

Do you think that participating in the course has benefited you? If yes, in what way? 

Absolutely. In terms of knowledge, I know much more about the essential stages of advanced therapy development. I also had an opportunity to network with experts from both the US and UK. The experts' guidance along with the training showed me the similarities and differences between the two regulatory systems. 

What would you say to somebody interested in taking this course in future? 

I strongly encourage you all to apply for this training. Prepare your pitch well to secure a place. Save time to read all materials before the class and actively engage in discussion during the sessions. The organisers are dedicated to keeping us in a strong loop of connection so I am sure that we will know each other in the future.

Liked this article? Look out for our next bulletin where we will be covering other student’s experiences on this intensive course.