Do you need to build a cell bank to maximize target population coverage? Are you unsure of the odds of finding donors that will match your cell therapy criteria? Do you need to know how your allogeneic donor choices for source material will impact your therapy? Or if you can use your human leukocyte antigen (HLA) data that has significant gaps and ambiguities?
Our Bioinformatics Consulting team can help.
Tap into our experts for models, analyses and interpretations that offer answers and provide assurances as you plan for cell therapy development and clinical trials. Our insights are powered by the partnership of NMDP BioTherapies℠ and the CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®).
Our Bioinformatics Consulting service supports your cell and gene therapy company through multiple stages of therapy development.
Our data and analytical expertise help you define your targets and build your allogeneic off-the-shelf cell bank.
Working with our team gives your company access to unique and expansive clinical outcomes, CIBMTR data and donor registry databases available only through our organization. You’ll receive insightful data analytics and modeling based on decades of cell therapy research.
Bioinformatics Consulting
Cell source optimization
Identify and compare optimal cell sources (adult donors or cord blood units) with HLA/KIR characteristics that capture product criteria.
Population coverage
Optimize candidate donor choices to maximize target patient population coverage and minimize cost and redundant effort.
Histocompatibility and genotype interpretation
Identify favorable factors of histocompatibility and HLA/KIR genotype interpretation for therapy success.
Population-level imputation
Resolve ambiguities and missing HLA locus information in study data using population haplotype frequencies and unique expertise in HLA/KIR genotype.
Population haplotype frequency estimates for multiple U.S. and world populations developed using HLA data from millions of volunteer donors.
Population modeling and match projection
Project match likelihoods in certain populations, cell sources and/or geographical areas using customized modeling.
Projections derived from NMDP Registry℠ data—the most diverse repository of HLA data collected from healthy adult volunteer donors and umbilical cord blood.
Cell bank design and optimization
Optimize cell source type, high potential genotypes and sample size to maximize target patient population coverage.
Uncover actionable ways to put research into practice
Our team has the expertise to help you develop, validate and improve your products. Let’s start the conversation.
Case examples from the Bioinformatics Consulting team
How Bioinformatics Consulting helped an allogeneic cell therapy client design an off-the-shelf cell bank
A client was developing a therapy for a blood condition and needed to build an off-the-shelf bank of cryopreserved cell sources. The client wanted to model the size and utilization pattern of a cell bank that would meet patient needs in the United States. Then, it needed to build a utilization model for the cell bank.
The client could not meet these objectives without knowledge of the population HLA data and modeling capabilities based on the mismatch stringencies.
Experts from Bioinformatics Consulting developed estimated models that helped the client efficiently plan for the size and cost of an off-the-shelf cell bank and streamline therapy manufacturing and delivery.
In addition, the client can use the models to develop the restocking schedule to avoid the time and cost of delayed restocking.
Example of projected restocking pattern for four topmost common stocked genotypes (MUUG – Multi-locus Unphased Unambiguous Genotype)
Download the full case study to learn how Bioinformatics Consulting experts modeled the size and utilization pattern of the client’s off-the-shelf cell bank.
How allogeneic cell therapy developers can benefit from using a combination of Bioinformatics Consulting, CIBMTR CRO Services and Cell Sourcing solutions from NMDP BioTherapies
A client initiated a Phase I clinical trial for its allogeneic cell therapy. Several months in, limited success recruiting patients had led to an expensive lack of progress. The client engaged with the Bioinformatics Consulting team through NMDP BioTherapies to identify U.S. states and counties with the highest density of patients and donors with specified HLA profiles.
In addition, they wanted to model match likelihoods and estimate available donors from multiple race groups to meet the demand of the target population.
Example of a density map of patients with specific HLA profile by state
With this valuable information, the client was able to make data-driven decisions to get the clinical trial back on track. However, had the client taken a different approach prior to initiating the clinical trial, the client could have saved substantial time and cost.
Download the case study to learn how an alternate approach using a combination of NMDP BioTherapies services can help clients save time and increase the likelihood of achieving their clinical trial recruitment efforts.
Additional case examples:
Consult with a Bioinformatics team uniquely qualified to support your cell therapy needs
Our HLA and KIR work span decades. Our researchers and scientists advance the field of immunogenetics and hematopoietic stem cell transplant/cellular therapy genomics through the CIBMTR Bioinformatics Research Program.
That experience—along with more than 30 years of patient outcomes data for hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapies—allows us to develop methods that support proper donor/patient histocompatibility for allogeneic cellular therapies.
This includes population imputation, population genetics, cell bank and match rate modeling, and projection and cell source optimization.
Bioinformatics Consulting Team
Martin Maiers
Vice President, Research
Abeer Madbouly, PhD
Principal Bioinformatics Scientist
Michael Wright
Scientific Coordinator
Heather Stefanski, MD, PhD
Vice President, Medical Services
Steven Devine, MD
Chief Medical Officer Senior Scientific Director
Recent research published by the NMDP BioTherapies Bioinformatics Consulting team
A common allele of HLA is associated with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nature, July 2023)
Trans-population graph-based coverage optimization of allogeneic cellular therapy (Frontiers, May 2023)
Assessment of HLA-B Genetic Variation with an HLA-B Leader Tool and Implications in Clinical Transplantation (Blood Advances, January 2022)
Predicting HLA-DPB1 permissive probabilities through a DPB1 prediction service towards the optimization of HCT donor selection (Human Immunology, December 2021)
GRIMM: GRaph IMputation and Matching for HLA Genotypes (Bioinformatics, September 2019)
Demographic history and selection at HLA loci in Native Americans (PLOS ONE, November 2020)
A Detailed View of KIR Haplotype Structures and Gene Families as Provided by a New Motif-Based Multiple Sequence Alignment (Frontiers in Immunology, November 2020)
Put our experience and expertise to work for you.
Let’s start with a conversation so we can learn more about your company’s needs.
Access additional services for allogeneic cell therapy developers
Allogeneic Cell Sourcing
Source high-quality adult donors that match your therapy needs and receive end-to-end support from donor identification through cell delivery.
Cord Blood Unit Sourcing
Get comprehensive visibility and streamlined access to the fully characterized domestic cord blood unit inventory.
Get the answers you’ve been looking for
Let’s discuss your needs and how our Bioinformatics Consulting professionals can support your allogeneic cell therapy development.