Members of the Personalized Biotherapeutics Team at BMC (left to right): Hannah Izsak, Rola Hajjar, Dr. Mathieu Crupi, Erin ManionSt. Paul, MN (November 25, 2025) – ScaleReadyTM, in collaboration with Wilson Wolf Manufacturing, Bio-Techne Corporation and CellReadyTM, announced today that the Biotherapeutics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) at The Ottawa Hospital’s Research Institute (OHRI) has been awarded a $300,000 USD G-Rex® Grant. This grant will support the development of a cell manufacturing process for TIL (tumour infiltrating lymphocyte) therapy. This innovative anti-cancer treatment involves extracting immune cells from a patient’s tumour, purifying and expanding them in the lab and then injecting them back into the same patient along with immune-stimulating drugs.
This funding will help pave the way for the first Canadian clinical trials of TIL therapy, to be conducted at The Ottawa Hospital and Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) for patients with biliary tract cancer and melanoma.
“We are delighted to receive this award to bridge the gap from research and development of cancer biotherapeutics to manufacturing and clinical trials,” said Dr. Jennifer Quizi, Director of TOH’s BMC. “As Canada’s leading producer of therapeutic viruses and cell products, TOH’s BMC has a proven track record of delivering high-quality biologics for early-phase clinical trials across North America, Europe and Asia. This funding reinforces our commitment to advancing cutting-edge cell therapies and expanding access to innovative treatments.”
The new funding builds on a previous $50,000 USD G-Rex® Grant awarded to TOH’s BMC. It also complements funding to support two TIL clinical trials, provided by the Canadian Cholangiocarcinoma Collaborative (C3), the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and BioCanRx.
“OHRI’s BMC is an incredible institution, and we are proud to support the personalized biotherapeutics team with a second G-Rex® Grant,” said Josh Ludwig, Commercial Director of ScaleReady. “One of the goals of a G-Rex® Grant is to help new cell therapies reach the clinic, and the BMC’s goal of enabling the first Canadian trial of TIL therapy aligns perfectly with that vision.”
CellReady and ScaleReady will support BMC in performing training and engineering qualifications to ensure a state-of-readiness to support future TIL clinical trials within Canada and abroad. Further, BMC will incorporate Wilson Wolf’s fully closed-system G-Rex® bioreactors and get access to a new line of cytokines from Bio-Techne that are tailormade for use with G-Rex®. The new cytokine offerings from Bio-techne are designed to streamline reagent preparation and administration in a GMP manufacturing setting.
“TIL therapy is showing great promise in treating a variety of different types of cancer,” said Dr. Rebecca Auer, surgical oncologist and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and Co-Principal Investigator of C3.
“This new funding will be critical for establishing Canada’s first TIL trial program, so that we can offer new treatment options and hope to our patients and families,” added Dr. Auer, who is also CEO and Scientific Direct of OHRI, Executive Vice-President of Research and Innovation at The Ottawa Hospital and a professor at the University of Ottawa.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with our colleagues at The Ottawa Hospital to bring TIL therapy to Canadian patients,” said Dr. Simon Turcotte, surgical oncologist and scientist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). “This partnership marks an important step toward making advanced cell therapies accessible within Canada’s health-care system, while strengthening our national capacity for biotherapeutic innovation.”
ScaleReady’s G-Rex® Grant Program has now surpassed $40 million of no-cost product commitments to grant recipients with the goal of advancing the state of cell and gene-modified cell therapy (CGT) development and manufacturing. Individual Grant Awards are worth up to $300,000. G-Rex® Grant Recipients also gain access to exclusive support from ScaleReady’s growing consortium of G-Rex® Grant Partners who bring best-in-class tools and technologies as well as unparalleled knowledge and expertise in the areas of cGMP manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs, CGT business operations, and more.
About The Ottawa Hospital’s BMC
The Ottawa Hospital’s Biotherapeutics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) is the most experienced and successful biomanufacturing facility in Canada, having manufactured more than a dozen different cell and virus-based therapies and vaccines for human clinical trials in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. With eight manufacturing suites, BMC offers a full range of services to both academic and corporate partners, including process development, manufacturing and fill-finish, all done according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards. BMC leads Canada’s first hands-on training program in biotherapeutics manufacturing, and is a critical partner in major networks such as the Canadian Biomanufacturing Cooperative, the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub, the Canadian-Led Immunotherapies in Cancer program and BioCanRx. BMC is based at The Ottawa Hospital’s Research Institute (OHRI). www.ohri.ca/bmc
About ScaleReady
ScaleReady provides the field of cell and gene-modfied cell therapy (CGT) with a G-Rex® centric manufacturing platform that enables the world’s most practical, flexible, scalable, and affordable CGT drug product development and manufacturing. The G-Rex® manufacturing platform is currently used by a rapidly growing list of over 800 organizations and is producing drug products for approximately 50% of CGT clinical trials as well as 5 commercially approved CGT drugs. CGT entities relying on the breadth and scope of ScaleReady’s expertise can expect to save years of time and millions of dollars on the path to CGT commercialization. For more information about the ScaleReady G-Rex® Grant Program, please contact info@scaleready.com.
About Wilson Wolf Manufacturing
Wilson Wolf (www.wilsonwolf.com) is dedicated to simplifying cell and gene-modified cell (CGT) therapy research, process development, and manufacturing. This is being accomplished through its scalable G-Rex® technology, which is used throughout the world in CGT applications ranging from basic research to commercial drug production. Wilson Wolf’s mission is to create hope for cancer patients, one G-Rex® device at a time.
About Bio-Techne Corporation
Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) is a global life sciences company providing innovative tools and bioactive reagents for the research and clinical diagnostic communities. Bio-Techne, in partnership with Wilson Wolf, is creating products such as media and cytokines that are specifically tailored to G-Rex® Bioreactors, including right-sized reagent quantities in containers that are tailored to high throughput closed-system manufacturing. For more information on Bio-Techne and its brands, please visit https://www.bio-techne.com or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube.
About CellReady LLC
CellReady is the world’s first and only G-Rex® centric contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in G-Rex® based cell and gene-modified cell therapy development and manufacturing. The company offers a wide range of services to support the development and commercialization of these therapies. CellReady’s mission is to create hope for cancer patients, one G-Rex® process at a time.
