FACILITIES & OTHER RESOURCES
Updated: June 14, 2022
Specific Fields Relevant for Emory Cellular and Immunotherapy Core (ExCITE) Users
EMORY CELLULAR AND IMMUNOTHERAPY CORE (ExCITE)
The Emory Cellular and Immunotherapy Core (ExCITE) is one of the Emory Integrated Core Facilities (EICF). This fee for service laboratory is a clinical cell manufacturing facility that prepares cellular and immunotherapy products under current Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for the development investigational new drugs and diagnostics methods. The central mission of the lab is to provide GMP-compliant cell manufacturing and/or consultation for the translational of Emory-based or external research collaborations into early phase clinical trials. The types of products routinely handled by ExCITE include autologous and allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells, apheresis products, including transduced lymphocytes, red blood cells (RBCs) and cardiomyocytes. Standard processes performed by ExCITE include isolation, expansion, and cryopreservation of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells, dendritic cells, transduction and or transfection of lymphocytes and other cellular products for investigational new FDA-sanctioned studies.
The ExCITE lab is accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) for more than minimally manipulated cellular therapy products as well as College of Pathologist (CAP) certification. There are four laminar flow hoods (Nuaire), 8 CO2 incubators, two swinging bucket temperature-controlled centrifuges, a suite of Miltenyi CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) production equipment (MACSQuant, Prodigy), mycoplasma and endotoxin detection, an ISBT label printer and computer equipment as needed all located within our space. Future plans are in place to double the lab’s capacity with the addition of another 2 iSO7 rooms. The ExCITE lab has a dedicated office on the same floor as the laboratory space on the 4th floor of the University Hospital Tower, which provides for computational services, meeting customers, and ExCITE team meetings. Additionally we have meeting rooms available on Clinic B, level 3.