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Research Facilities of the CITT

Immune cell culture laboratory
The CITT has state-of-the-art cell therapy laboratories for manipulation of cell products to generate vaccines and other immune based therapies. These laboratories include a basic research laboratory which is primarily responsible for developing new immune therapy products and protocols based on basic scientific data. This laboratory undertakes the development necessary to translate basic research findings into a clinical therapy that can be manufactured in the associated cell therapy laboratory and administered in clinical trials undertaken by our unit.

Our facilities include a laboratory for processing tumour samples derived from surgical samples and blood or bone marrow samples that will be processed and cryopreserved for later use in patient specific, autologous immune therapy products or as part of a tumour bank for research purposes.
Extensive storage areas for storage of patient tumour samples and blood samples (including in liquid nitrogen or at -80 C) under carefully controlled and regulated conditions allow these samples to be used for the manufacture of patient specific therapeutic products.

Living Tumour Bank
A tumour bank is a facility that, in an organised and ethical manner, collects, categorizes and stores samples of surgical specimens removed in the course of the usual treatment or diagnostic procedures from cancer patients. It also holds samples of blood or bone marrow from individuals who have blood or bone marrow cancers, such as leukaemia or myeloma. A tumour bank also includes a database of relevant demographic information (such as age and sex), and clinical information relating to the tumour samples stored in the bank.

The living tumour cell bank we have established involves short and long term frozen storage of living cancer cells, able to be thawed and used as a source of live tumour cells for testing or therapeutic purposes. A living tumour bank provides cancer cells that are as close to the tumours in cancer patients as possible and hence optimal as a base for developing new therapies. We will use the banked malignant cells to evaluate antitumour cytotoxicity of various autologous immune based therapies undergoing evaluation in our laboratories, all of which will utilise autologous cells stored in the bank. Special techniques of frozen storage are used so that living cancer cells can be maintained for long periods of time. The living cancer cells can be thawed weeks, months, or years later, when a new form of treatment requires laboratory testing using human tissues, for example. Other tumour banks and standard pathology services do not store living cells (cells are either dead or simply stored as cell components such as DNA) so it is not possible to use these samples to evaluate the susceptibility of the tumours to new treatments.

The value of a living tumour bank extends well beyond our own current research. It is a resource of benefit to the immediate and future research needs of cancer researchers from Greenslopes, UQ and other institutions. The living cells can be used to evaluate underlying causes and mechanisms of cancer development, new therapies and new ways of combining treatments.

A key and unique feature of the CITT is our capacity to provide state of the art therapies, including non-toxic immune therapies and other targeted therapies, still undergoing clinical development, within a framework of optimal delivery of standard therapies. The laboratories of the Centre for Immune and Targeted Therapy, the Living tumour bank and the Clinical Trials Unit are located within Greenslopes Private Hospital which provides consulting rooms for outpatient review and management, comprehensive surgical, pathology and radiological support and a comprehensive array of standard cancer services (including inpatient and outpatient administration of chemotherapy, support for neutropenic patients, leukapheresis and stem cell transplantation and blood product support). This gives us the capacity to ensure optimal timing of immune based or other novel and developing therapies. Greenslopes Private Hospital also provides the appropriately accredited and staffed clinical facilities required for our research, including:  

• A pool of appropriately trained nursing staff with expertise in administration of cell based therapies,
• Access to leukapheresis machines with appropriately trained staff
• Allocation of sufficient skilled nurses to care for patients in day care
• Inpatient beds for patients on clinical trials.

University Facilities

• PhD’s can be undertaken with the University of Queensland. A number of scholarships are available to provide additional income from students who already have a basic scholarship
• Clinical teaching for the University of Queensland Medical School is conducted throughout Greenslopes Private Hospital
• Students have access to an onsite library and via computer linkage with other library services.