Speakers 2025

Speakers 2022 2023 2024 2025

Christophe FERRAND

RIGHT INSTITUTE


CAR-T CELLS

PhD in molecular and cell therpay, research director at the INSERM-Univ Franche Comté-EFS Joint Research Unit 1098 RIGHT in Besançon (FR), Dr Christophe Ferrand is also the founder of advesya biotech company, a French clinical-stage biotech company founded in 2020. Based on academic work, the main goal is to fight against cancer and autoimmune diseases and the company got the European Medical Agency (EMA) approval to open a first in human Phase 1 clinical trial in AML using CART-cells. He is the bioproduction work package leader of the 1st French national research consortium on cell and gene therapies (UNITC). Since more than 20 years, he has been interested in the field of the T-cell response either after hematopoietic stem cell allo-transplantation or in the anti-tumor effect to modulate Graft versus Host disease (GvHD) or to initiate anti-tumoral effects (Graft versus Leukemia, GvL), respectively. Based on the suicide gene therapy clinical trial (TKO), using ex-vivo Gene Modified T-cells (GMTC) and initiated in 2001, he has strongly contributed, as the scientific responsible, to bring the new suicide gene (iCASP9/AP1903) clinical trial Side by CIDe to the French regulatory agency (ANSM) approval (in the context of the new ATMP European regulations, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02849886)). Based on this experience in the field of T-cells, I he has naturally redirected his research activity towards CART- cells immunotherapies by developing new approaches targeting original Tumor Associated Antigens expressed in Leukemia. With his team he has made the proof of concept of an original idea of an anti-tumor immunotherapy-based CART-cells in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Involvement in this gene therapy trial did allow me to a great experience in GMTC, their production and monitoring. A Phase I clinical trial will be the next step to bring this innovative medical drug to the patient with competences in immunology, vectorology (lenti or retrovirus), cell culture, gene therapy, suicide gene therapy, but also molecular biology in the field of Onco-Hematology, he has an interesting background in the field of Immunotherapies (CART-cells, TgTCR) that may be applied to hematology and other cancer treatment.

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