FREDERICK, MD / AGILITYPR.NEWS / March 16, 2021 / Partnership to help train growing cell therapy work force in Frederick County

—Hood College is partnering with Kite, a Gilead Company, to help the biopharmaceutical company train employees for a new facility in Urbana in southern Frederick County. The facility in Urbana will become part of Kite’s commercial manufacturing network that includes sites in California and the Netherlands.

Kite, based in Santa Monica, California, is focused on cell therapy—the use of genetically modified immune cells programmed to target tumors. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy involves removing a patient’s T cells, genetically modifying them to recognize and attack certain types of cancer cells, and then infusing them back into the patient to fight the cancer.

Kite will install state-of-the-art lab equipment and train new Kite employees and Hood students in cell therapy manufacturing in a new 400-square-foot lab area located within Hood’s Hodson Science and Technology Center. This lab will enable Kite to fill skill-based training needs for its workforce while serving as a foundation for a long-term partnership between Kite and Hood College.

Building on Hood’s strong programs in the biomedical field, this partnership will offer students the unique opportunity to obtain cell therapy manufacturing skills. Kite scientists and Hood faculty will work together to develop Hood academic programs and engage in training students to an innovative, leading-edge and industry-relevant education.

 “It is our honor and pleasure to partner with Kite and host them in our facilities during their transition,” said Andrea E. Chapdelaine, Ph.D., president of Hood. “This is a great opportunity for collaboration between Kite employees and our faculty and students, and we can’t wait to get started.”

“Our biomedical science master’s program includes students employed by NIH, the Department of Defense, and biotech and pharma companies in the Frederick region, and now we welcome another member to the biomedical community, Kite,” said Ann Boyd, Ph.D., biomedical science program director at Hood. “Through this partnership, our educational programs will benefit their employees and our students will become more aware of the diversity of career tracks emerging from biomedical science.”