National Horizons Centre, RoslinCT, together with its training partners, and the University of Birmingham will deliver high impact on-site and digital training capabilities, as part of the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN)

Today marks the official opening of the three ATSTN National Training Centres (NTCs) initiative. The launch took place at a special event with representatives from the three centres: National Horizons Centre, RoslinCT and the University of Birmingham. Held at the National Horizons Centre in Darlington and online, attendees heard how these NTCs bring with them complementing capabilities and a wealth of experience across GMP/GxP, manufacturing and bioprocessing and delivering virtual reality training. These topics collectively address the growing need in the UK for specialist skills in vaccine and advanced therapy manufacturing.

By providing specific on-site and digital training capabilities the NTCs will provide people with advanced career opportunities and access to essential training, helping to expand the advanced therapy and vaccine manufacturing workforce. The ATSTN initiative is backed by £4.7m in funding from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy alongside Innovate UK, and is driven by industry and coordinated by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult.

The ATSTN programme will help grow the sector by creating economic opportunities for new jobs and industry-driven learning. With the industry workforce expected to double to more than 6,000 by 2024, this programme is further evidence of the Government’s commitment to expanding the UK expertise in advanced therapies.

Science Minister Amanda Solloway  said:

“These new training centres – backed by £4.7 million from the UK Government for the ATSTN initiative – will boost much-needed skills and expertise across the life sciences sector, particularly in vaccine and advanced therapy manufacturing.

Supporting our world-leading life sciences sector is crucial, having not only been vital throughout the pandemic but setting us on course to build back better.”

Matthew Durdy, Chief Executive Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult commented:

“With the continued growth of the UK advanced therapy industry and the ever-growing need for advanced therapies, the launch of these NTCs is a crucial step in ensuring the UK’s future capability to meet the demand is met. The ATSTN initiative was built on a foundation of collaboration, and the partnerships that have been developed to date, both with industry and academia, is proof of that. We are proud of the progress that has been made since the launch of the ATSTN and are confident that the launch of the NTCs will have a meaningful impact on our mission to upskill the UK workforce to develop and manufacture vaccines and advanced therapies at scale.”

The NTCs complement the other two parts of the ATSTN programme including the Online Training Platform, focused on upskilling existing staff within the industry; and the Career Converter, which matches an individual’s transferable skills from outside the sector and recommends applicable roles within advanced therapies and vaccine manufacturing.

About Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult was established as an independent centre of excellence to advance the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry, by bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale commercialisation. With more than 330 employees focusing on cell and gene therapy technologies, it works with partners in academia and industry to ensure these life-changing therapies can be developed for use in health services throughout the world. It offers leading-edge capability, technology and innovation to enable companies to take products into clinical trials and provide clinical, process development, manufacturing, regulatory, health economics and market access expertise. Its aim is to make the UK the most compelling and logical choice for UK and international partners to develop and commercialise these advanced therapies. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult works with Innovate UK. For more information please visit ct.catapult.org.uk or visit www.gov.uk/innovate-uk.

Training provided by the University of Birmingham will focus on advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) manufacturing and clinical adoption

First course to be launched September 2021 covering ATMPs and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

The University of Birmingham has today been confirmed as the third National Training Centre in the Advanced Therapies Skills Training Network (ATSTN) initiative.

The initiative, sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), includes RoslinCT with its academic partners and the National Horizons Centre is designed to develop and deliver specific practical skills to address the growing need in the UK for skills in vaccine and advanced therapy medicinal product (ATMP) manufacturing.

As one of the three initial National Training Centres, the University of Birmingham will deliver advanced technology courses on-site in collaboration with local companies and institutions to provide training complementary to the ATSTN initiative. These include modules on ATMP manufacturing design and clinical adoption, as well as documentation and implementation of ATMPs, which will be delivered as a combination of on-site, online learning and virtual reality modules.

The first courses will be launched in September 2021 and will cover the fundamental aspects of ATMPs and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). The University of Birmingham will also offer master’s degree level modules on GMP standards, which are a vital requirement for the authorisation, manufacture, and commercialisation of ATMPs.

Matthew Durdy, Chief Executive Officer, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult commented:

“The UK ATMP industry is expanding rapidly, and to support that tremendous growth the industry needs skilled people. The UK is making one of the biggest commitments anywhere in the world to training in this sector, keeping it as the “go to” place for the cell and gene therapy industry. As part of the ATSTN programme, the University of Birmingham is well-placed to develop and deliver high-impact training courses utilising its world leading delivery technologies”.

Professor Phil Newsome, Director of Research in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences at the University of Birmingham, commented:

“We are delighted to provide our leading expertise, playing such a pivotal role in delivering these much-needed skills for the UK’s advanced therapies sector.  This collaboration between industry and academia will create a truly world-class offering, ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of the manufacture and delivery of vaccines and advanced therapies. Moreover, it will further strengthen and leverage the rapidly-growing health and life science sector in Birmingham and the Midlands.”

The National Training Centres are a part of the ATSTN initiative, which also includes an Online Training Platform to provide remote learning for those currently working in the vaccine manufacturing and advanced therapy industry, and a Career Converter, which maps an individual’s transferrable skills from adjacent sectors into recommended roles for this industry.

The ATSTN, driven by industry and coordinated by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult), was launched in December 2020 with £4.7m in funding awarded from BEIS. The initiative was designed in collaboration with industry to create opportunities to upskill, through digital and practical on-site courses, current professionals and leverage skills from individuals coming from other sectors.

About the University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, and its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 6,500 international students from nearly 150 countries.

About Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult was established as an independent centre of excellence to advance the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry, by bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale commercialisation. With more than 350 employees focusing on cell and gene therapy technologies, it works with partners in academia and industry to ensure these life-changing therapies can be developed for use in health services throughout the world. It offers leading-edge capability, technology and innovation to enable companies to take products into clinical trials and provide clinical, process development, manufacturing, regulatory, health economics and market access expertise. Its aim is to make the UK the most compelling and logical choice for UK and international partners to develop and commercialise these advanced therapies. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult works with Innovate UK. For more information please visit ct.catapult.org.uk or visit www.gov.uk/innovate-uk.

New virtual training reduces costs and time it takes for new employees to become operational

Training in Good Manufacturing Practice has been developed as part of the Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community; made available to the entire industry

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) and FourPlus today announce a series of virtual reality (VR) training modules for the Advanced Therapies Apprenticeship Community (ATAC). Using cutting-edge VR technology, these modules will provide a new and innovative way of training staff working in the advanced therapies and vaccine manufacturing industry that is more time and cost-efficient, in a virtual Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) environment.

The four training modules were developed in collaboration with FourPlus, an immersive technology company specialising in the life sciences sector, and will cover cleanroom orientation, GMP cleaning, cleanroom gowning, Health and Safety, and GMP auditing. The training is aligned with the standards of the Manufacturing Technician, Laboratory Technician, Technician Scientist and Modern Apprenticeship programmes.

Matthew Durdy, CEO of Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, said:

“Virtual reality has obvious cost, efficiency and safety benefits but it is far from simple to deliver. Courses like those created in collaboration with FourPlus, will further increase the supply of qualified and capable people to the cell and gene therapy industry. CGT Catapult is now able to offer this solution through the ATAC apprenticeships programme. We hope that the adoption of VR training will introduce new learners to new environments from any location, reducing the cost and time it takes for new employees to become operational and increasing access to effective training.”

Hayley Mulhall and Ivan Wall, Co-Founders of FourPlus, said:

“We are delighted to work with Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult to create a virtual reality training platform for GMP operator trainees. Currently, GMP training requires significant investment of time, infrastructure and equipment that can lead to production downtime. The FourPlus platform will enable training to first be undertaken in virtual reality before the operator sets foot in a GMP facility, which will accelerate the training cycle, increase competence and confidence of operators, and reduce costs associated with production downtime.”

The use of this cutting-edge VR technology in GMP training gives greater access as individuals only require a VR headset, meaning more people can be trained at an increased rate than if the training had to take place in a physical GMP setting. The course’s virtual GMP and cleanroom settings have been based on the CGT Catapult’s large-scale manufacturing facility in Stevenage and their GMP procedures, adding a further layer of realism to the training. There is also expected to be cost reduction with the significant reduced risk of compromising a physical GMP cleanroom setting while learning is taking place.

This cutting-edge training is to be delivered by the ATAC, a programme coordinated by CGT Catapult and funded by an £1.5m award from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. The VR courses are now available for industry to license, and for ATAC apprentices and CGT Catapult collaborators to access as part of their training.

For more information on apprenticeship opportunities available through ATAC, please visit advancedtherapiesapprenticeships.co.uk

For more information on training opportunities available through the ATSTN, please visit atskillstrainingnetwork.org.uk

About Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult was established as an independent centre of excellence to advance the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry, by bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale commercialisation. With more than 350 employees focusing on cell and gene therapy technologies, it works with partners in academia and industry to ensure these life-changing therapies can be developed for use in health services throughout the world. It offers leading-edge capability, technology and innovation to enable companies to take products into clinical trials and provide clinical, process development, manufacturing, regulatory, health economics and market access expertise. Its aim is to make the UK the most compelling and logical choice for UK and international partners to develop and commercialise these advanced therapies. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult works with Innovate UK. For more information please visit ct.catapult.org.uk or visit http://www.gov.uk/innovate-uk.

About FourPlus

FourPlus are an immersive technology company based in Birmingham, UK. They bring together expertise in life sciences, immersive technology and software engineering to deliver solutions that will accelerate the scale up of modern medicines production. These solutions include virtual reality and digitalisation of traditional training platforms as well as data capture tools for such platforms. Our approach will help to unlock the potential of revolutionary medicines and accelerate their delivery to patients who need them. For more information, please visit www.fourplus.co.uk.