Arnau Boix with collaborators from Immune Cells Bioengineering Lab
A Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) at Margarida Serra’s Stem and Immune Cells Bioengineering Lab at Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (iBet, Portugal) was conducted in February 2025 by Arnau Boix, a postdoctoral researcher in cell culture scale-up and bioprocess operations at Ángel Raya’s Clinical Translation and Regenerative Medicine group at Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL, Spain).
The STSM focused on the large-scale expansion of cardiomyocytes (CMs) derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) using stirred-tank bioreactors. The mission proceeded as planned, producing CMs at a billion-scale, with all tasks completed successfully and no deviations from the original working plan.
During the mission, the grantee gained valuable experience in the large-scale production of CMs with improved productivity and quality, a critical step towards future clinical applications. The knowledge gained will directly support the research on the expansion of hiPSC-CMs homozygous for frequent HLA haplotypes. This aligns with the HAPLO-iPS COST Action (CA21151) objectives of advancing scalable methods for producing clinically relevant quantities of CMs, paving the way for potential future developments in personalized, HLA-matched cell therapies using clinical-grade hiPSC lines. Importantly, this STSM opens the door to potential opportunities for collaboration between the institutions, which could lead to future exchanges or projects.