Pádraig Donlon

Dr. Padraig Donlon is an Adjucnt Lectuer dedicated to advancing the frontier of cancer immunotherapy through the intersection of synthetic biology and advanced biomanufacturing. His work focuses on the development of "next-generation" CAR-T cell therapies designed to overcome the unique physiological barriers of solid tumors, while simultaneously re-engineering the manufacturing workflows required to bring these therapies to patients at scale.

Dr. Donlon has significant industry experience in Analytical and Process Development for CAR-T therapies. This allows him to bridge the gap between benchtop synthetic biology and clinical-grade manufacturing, focusing on optimizing the "vein-to-vein" process to ensure the potency, purity, and scalability of engineered cell products.

Research Interests

• Synthetic Biology for Solid Tumors: Engineering CAR-T cells with "logic gates" and environmental sensors to navigate the immunosuppressive microenvironments of solid cancers.

• Manufacturing Process Innovation: Developing novel analytical and manufacturing frameworks and automated workflows to improve the yield and consistency of CAR-T cell production.

• 3D Tumor Modeling: Utilizing bio-printed and hydrogel-based 3D cultures to simulate tumor-immune interactions for the preclinical validation of engineered cells.

• Translational Oncology: Integrating CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls) strategies early in the design phase to accelerate the transition from lab-based discovery to clinical application.