Webinar: Scale-up Principles for Viral Vector Production

Webinar: Scale-up Principles for Viral Vector Production

Scale-up Principles for Viral Vector Production

Scaling viral vector production from a few litres to larger stirred bioreactors is rarely a simple volume jump. Oxygen transfer, mixing, shear and power input all start to interact in ways that can affect yield, CQAs and overall process robustness.

What you’ll learn
You will explore the main engineering challenges of scaling stirred bioreactors for viral vectors and compare oxygen transfer via surface aeration and sparging, with a focus on how each approach impacts cells and productivity.

Lodewijk will discuss the factors that drive oxygen mass transfer rates, how to interpret and use kLa, and how power input can be used to balance oxygen transfer, mixing and shear instead of optimising them in isolation. The webinar will address shear from both agitation and aeration, along with practical protection strategies for shear-sensitive products.

Finally, you will see how oxygen transfer characterisation, scale-up criteria, scale-down models and DoE studies come together to de-risk decisions and support smoother tech transfer.

Register now
If you work in process development, MSAT or manufacturing and want a clearer, quantitative basis for your viral vector scale-up strategy, this session is for you.

Register now to secure your place and bring your questions on bioreactor design, oxygen transfer and shear control.

TechTalk XL 2025: Cell & Gene Therapies

TechTalk XL 2025: Cell & Gene Therapies

As part of Dutch Bio Science Week 2025, TechTalkXL brought together the Cell and Gene Therapy community for an afternoon of focused exchange at Mirai House. Organised by NecstGen in collaboration with Leiden Bio Science Park, the event provided a setting to examine both therapeutic development and the practical realities of producing advanced therapies.

Speakers and guests represented a wide range of perspectives from academia, biotech, and early-stage ventures. Discussions covered topics such as gene editing, T-cell engineering, NK cell applications, decentralised manufacturing, data handling, donor safety, and the infrastructure required to support these therapies.

The main programme featured presentations from Frank Staal of LUMC on clinical developments in gene therapy for rare genetic diseases, Ester Weijers of NTrans on a non-viral CRISPR delivery platform, Anna-Maria Georgoudaki of Glycostem on off-the-shelf NK cell therapies, and Gemma Parsons of Galapagos on a decentralised, digitally enabled model for fresh cell therapy manufacturing.

In the snapshot session, shorter talks focused on advances in manufacturing. Topics included modular automation, decentralised production models, advanced sterility testing, closing the process, and data-informed quality systems. Presenters brought insight from KU Leuven, Fraunhofer IPT, Biotactical, WMDA, and NecstGen.

Events like these are part of our broader effort to strengthen collaboration across the Cell and Gene Therapy development chain. The aim is to help bring advanced therapies to patients with greater consistency, confidence, and speed.

We thank all speakers for their contributions and all attendees for making time in a busy week to take part in these conversations.

On September 24, NecstGen will host the next CGT Circle session at Mirai House. Details on the programme and registration will follow shortly. For now, we invite you to save the date.

Photos below capture a few moments from the afternoon. We look forward to welcoming you again.

Webinar Announcement: Improving lentiviral vector yield with 2G UNic technology

Webinar Announcement: Improving lentiviral vector yield with 2G UNic technology

Join NecstGen and ProteoNic for our webinar “Improving lentiviral vector yield with 2G UNic technology”, presented by Maurice van der Heijden (Director of R&D, ProteoNic) and Diederik Lokhorst (Viral Vector Scientist, NecstGen).

Discover more about ProteoNic’s 2G UNic™ technology and how NecstGen has been applying the technology for Lentiviral (LV) production. Learn from our experts while they discuss several aspects of LV production, a major cost driver in both gene therapies and Ex vivo gene therapies, and how both companies are working together to improve it.

Register now to secure your spot and stay tuned for more updates!

Register here

TechTalk XL – Cell & Gene Therapies – Dutch Bio Science Week 2025

TechTalk XL – Cell & Gene Therapies – Dutch Bio Science Week 2025

TechTalk XL – Tuesday 1 July 2025

Hosted by NecstGen in collaboration with Leiden Bio Science Park

🗓 Date: Tuesday 1 July 2025
🕒 Time: 15:30 – 19:30
📍 Location: NecstGen, Mirai House | Sylviusweg 62, Leiden

NecstGen is pleased to host the next edition of TechTalk XL during the Dutch Bio Science Week 2025 this summer. We invite you to join us for a focused afternoon of content and conversation on Cell & Gene Therapies.

The TechTalk XL programme showcases speakers and brief snapshot talks that highlight innovative breakthroughs and share practical insights across the spectrum—from development to clinical translation—of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs).

Programme:
15:30 – Arrival & Registration
16:00 – Speaker Session & Q&A

    • “Developing curative gene therapies for rare genetic diseases” by Frank Staal (Leiden University Medical Center)
    • “NTrans delivery platform – Unlocking next-generation T-cell therapies” by Ester Weijers (NTrans Technologies BV)
    • “Transforming the treatment landscape of Cancer & Autoimmune diseases with stem cell-derived Natural Killer cells” by Anna-Maria Georgoudaki (Glycostem Therapeutics)
    • “The Galapagos Decentralized Cell Therapy Manufacturing Platform” by Gemma Parsons (Galapagos)

 

17:00 – Snapshot Talks

Short, sharp insights from emerging voices in the field.

    • “Enabling end-to-end modular automation for organoid-based implants for regenerative medicine” by Isaak Decoene (KU Leuven)
    • “Automated, Decentralized Production for Advanced Therapies” by Julius Mathews (Fraunhofer IPT)
    • “Lighting Up Contamination: Accelerating Sterility Testing with ATP Bioluminescence” – Brice Meulah (biotactical)
    • “Safe Cells Start With Safe Donors: WMDA’s Mission to Protect the People Behind the Therapies” – Eefke van Eerden (WMDA)
    • “Cell and Gene Therapy Process Developement: Closing the Process” – Melissa van Pel (NecstGen)

From 17:30 – Networking
An opportunity to exchange ideas with peers, collaborators, and potential partners.

Last chance to sign up!
Attendance is free, but registration is required.


Please register in advance by clicking here

Get a glimpse of last years event here.

NecstGen Hosts bioMérieux QC User Group Meeting in Leiden

NecstGen Hosts bioMérieux QC User Group Meeting in Leiden

Last Thursday, NecstGen had the pleasure of hosting the bioMérieux Pharma Quality Control User Group meeting “Automation and Digitalisation in Your QC Micro Lab” in Leiden, in close collaboration with the bioMérieux team.

The event brought together users of bioMérieux solutions for a full day of expert presentations, engaging discussions, a guided facility tour, and a live demonstration of 3P CONNECT—bioMérieux’s digital solution designed to streamline microbiological Quality Control (QC) processes in pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing.

We want to thank bioMérieux for their partnership and making this meeting possible and all participants for their active involvement and valuable insights.

A special thanks to the speakers:

Dave Bates, Stephan Pohlmann, Emilie de Bruijckere, Katarina Bredberg, Marc Vanderhaeghen-Manier, Melissa Van Pel, Kees Mensch, Jasper Donkers, and David Watson.

Bringing together expertise in this way is essential to improving the reliability and efficiency of QC in Cell and Gene Therapy manufacturing.

Exploring the US Cell Therapy Market with Georgia Tech MBA Students

Exploring the US Cell Therapy Market with Georgia Tech MBA Students

NecstGen is a mission-driven CDMO, operating as a non-profit organization to challenge the high costs of CGT therapies. From our cutting-edge facility located in Leiden, The Netherlands, we are able to serve clients all over the world, including US-based companies.

Over the past few weeks, we and our partners from The Digital Capability Company (DCC) have been working with a group of students from The Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business MBA program in their consulting assignment. Their objective: to provide us with insights and recommendations on how to approach and enter the US Cell Therapy market; Our role: to support the team with sector-specific insights, such competitive intelligence from a European CDMO perspective.

Last week, we had the pleasure to host the group at our facilities, and it was great to finally meet them in person! Brooke E. Leeder Roenitz, Brandon Douglass, John Parkerson, Eric Terry and Chelsea Wright, thank you very much for the visit. It was great to host you all, we hope that you enjoyed the visit as much as we did!

Kees Mensch, Jasper Donkers and Rick Stijnen, thank you for giving us the chance to participate in this project. All of the discussions have been very insightful, and we look forward to the final recommendations from the team!

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NecstGen is a non-profit CDMO and Centre of Excellence for Cell and Gene Therapy located in a purpose-built GMP facility in Leiden, The Netherlands. Dedicated to the field of Cell and Gene Therapies, we provide expertise and capacity.

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