Automating autologous CAR T manufacturing: Timing, technology transfer and the future of operational efficiency

Matthew Hewitt, B.A. Ph.D., currently serves as Vice President, CTO Manufacturing Business Division at Charles River Laboratories (CRL) playing a critical role in driving CGT strategic vision as well as leading multiple operational initiatives across CRL’s CGT CDMO, Biologics Testing, and Microbial Solutions global network.

Before joining CRL, he was Head of R&D and Clinical Development for Lonza’s Personalized Medicine Business Unit leading Cocoon platform development, a closed, automated, scalable cell therapy manufacturing solution. In addition, he executed numerous collaborations across academia and industry leveraging the Cocoon.

Prior to Lonza, Matt led the Tumor Immunology and Microenvironment program at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, focusing on improving cell therapy efficacy in solid tumors. He also led the Immunology group at the University of Pennsylvania’s Gene Therapy Program, leading and contributing to numerous AAV gene therapy programs.

Matt received his B.A. in Molecular Biology at Goucher College while playing Men’s Lacrosse, PhD in Biophysics and Physiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University within the Asthma and Allergy Division.

Dr. Mojtaba Parvizi is a scientific leader in cell and gene therapy, immuno-oncology, and translational medicine. At Cytiva, he directs the Global FastTrak Cell Therapy program, where he works with biotech and pharmaceutical partners worldwide to accelerate the development and commercialization of CAR-T and other engineered immune cell therapies. He leads global efforts to connect translational science with operational excellence, advancing scalable and automated solutions that strengthen cell therapy manufacturing. Passionate about bridging innovation with strategy, he is dedicated to improving efficiency, reproducibility, and patient access to next-generation therapies.

Edwin has spent over 20 years bringing new life science technologies to market, the last 10 of these focused on solving the challenges of cell therapy manufacturing.  He established TTP’s cell and gene team which developed over 10 cell therapy automation systems, including systems that are now in routine use for commercial therapy manufacture. Seeing the challenge of scale remained unaddressed, Edwin co-founded Cellular Origins where he is passionate about enabling patient access to cell therapies through scalable, cost-effective and space efficient manufacturing enabled by the Constellation™ automated cell therapy manufacturing platform.  He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and a PhD in robotic vehicles from the University of Cambridge.