The one skill every technologist should have

Skills are your assets that build on your knowledge, and make you a valuable cell and gene therapy (CGT) technologist. For years, teams (scientists, engineers, physicist, IT specialists, and others) have been working to develop instruments that do the human jobs; the goal is to reduce the cost and improve the quality. There are numerous examples of how automation replaced humans, but with a caveat, automation replaces techniques but not skills.

CGT field is not an exception, the efforts to automate the production processes are evident, and have resulted in many successful examples. For instance, automation replaced some CGT techniques such as mononuclear cell separation and viable cell count, but automation did not replace CGT skills like vector design, process optimization, and most importantly aseptic processing.

Many CGT skills are still essential to the field, and will continue to be so. But the aseptic processing is a parental skill that makes it a prerequisite to many other skills. Therefore, every CGT technologist should posses this skill. 

There are few more reasons to having this skill:

1. CGT automation is expensive and is usually utilized for GMP production. Which means that all development activities are done the classical (manual) way that relies on aseptic processing.
2. Automating CGT is focused on more-than minimally manipulated products, which leaves all classical cell therapy processes (like RBC depletion and volume reduction) to manual aseptic processing.
3. The processes that have been automated are very specific (specific technique), while the CGT field is ever evolving with innovative solutions. This means that production devices are efficient but for a very specific process, and may not be able to adopt new ones.
4. Even the techniques or processes that are now automated, there remain front- and back-end activities for product preparation or finishing that are not automated but need to be done aseptically. Automation in many cases cover only part of the process.

So, rest assured your aseptic processing skill is, and will be, essential for many years to come. Your skills will keep you valuable as long as you nurture them with knowledge; CGT constantly comes with innovations, make sure your knowledge is up to date. Additionally, automation is here for good reasons, when possible, get trained on new devices to keep an edge.

Let us know if we missed anything, or if you would like a specific subject to be discussed, write to us. 

About the author

Naseem Almezel, earned his MSc degree in Cellular Therapies in 2010, since then his career focus is to support Bone Marrow Transplant and Oncology programs. Naseem likes to work in the lab doing translational research, or in the cleanroom doing GMP production. When he is not working, Naseem likes to read and to spend time outdoors. Find more about Naseem here