The UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center will host a lecture by Emory University’s Ian Copland July 30 at noon in Room 175 of the Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences. The lecture is part of the center’s continuing support in building a stronger regenerative medicine community in Georgia.
Copland, an assistant professor and laboratory director of the Emory Personalized Immunotherapy Center, will discuss “Clinical Development and Testing of Cellular Therapies in Georgia: The Emory Personalized Immunotherapy Center as an Enabling Core Facility.” A reception will follow hosted by Pamela Whitten, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost.
Copland will review Food and Drug Administration regulations of cellular therapies and discuss specific examples being developed at Emory University. Particular attention will be paid to the development of mesenchymal stromal cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune and alloimmune disorders.
“The lecture provides an avenue to bring in researchers and students from different scientific disciplines and extends an opportunity for exchange of ideas and provides a network which we hope will lead to many collaborative efforts in the future,” said Steven Stice, Regenerative Bioscience Center director and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar.
Cellular therapies have tremendous potential to positively impact patient outcomes that can be curative and permanent, Stice said. Cells are dynamic: They migrate, proliferate, differentiate and respond to their environment. Whether for tissue regeneration, immunotherapy or as cancer vaccines, cellular therapies are associated with unique manufacturing challenges and potential risks.
The Emory Personalized Immunotherapy Center was developed to help foster clinical translation of promising cellular therapies at academic centers in the South. As laboratory director, Copland helps direct the strategic planning, development and operational management of this good manufacturing practices-compliant cell handling facility located within Emory University Hospital.
Copland has more than 15 years of experience in research in both academic and industrial settings; he has engaged in research on cellular therapies for seven of those years. In 2011, he was appointed a faculty member of the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience at the Georgia Institute of Technology.