Dr. Carolina Gandara, Head of Retina Assay Development at Newcells Biotech, leads internal and external projects within the retina platform, overseeing a team of scientists focused on creating innovative products, assays, and services.
Dr. Carolina Gandara. Image Credit: Newcells Biotech
Dr. Gandara’s journey to Newcells was shaped by her extensive molecular and cell biology background, which spans various fields and included a postdoctoral position in neuroscience at Newcastle University.
During her postdoc, she worked on gene therapy for epilepsy using optogenetics—a technique leveraging light to stimulate cells—which she now applies to her work with light-responsive retinal cells and gene therapy screening at Newcells.
Dr. Gandara emphasizes the importance of understanding the client’s ultimate goals and research questions when designing and executing client projects.
Reviewing preliminary data, particularly when clients aim to compare data from animal studies with human cell models, is crucial in ensuring accurate study design. Additionally, she is mindful of project timelines, especially when clients require data to support Investigational New Drug applications, where speed is critical.
Clients consistently praise the precision and thoroughness of Newcells’ data, often highlighting the meticulous attention to detail.
Dr. Gandara notes that at Newcells, data quality is paramount, and every piece of information is scrutinized to understand the underlying biology, especially if unexpected results arise. The team maintains transparency, concluding only from data they fully trust, which bolsters their findings' quality and reliability.
Newcells's data is significant in drug development programs and can be included in FDA applications. Newcells’ human cell models are often employed to refine leads before preclinical animal studies or to validate animal study results within complex in vitro human tissue models.
The insights these models provide help reduce risk and inform decision-making in drug discovery.
Dr. Gandara’s team is currently optimizing assay efficiency and throughput to scale their work without compromising quality and enhancing model complexity by integrating immune cell components and vascularization.
The ongoing projects at Newcells involve characterizing and validating retinal disease models to offer advanced in vitro research services for retinal diseases.
About Newcells Biotech
Newcells Biotech develops in vitro cell-based assays for drug and chemical discovery and development.
Using our expertise in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), cellular physiology, and organoid technology, we build models that incorporate the “best biology” for predicting in vivo behavior of new drugs.
Our experts have developed and launched assays to measure transporter function, safety, and efficacy in a range of cell and tissue types, including kidney, retina and lungs.
We have the capability to develop and implement protocols to measure cilia beat frequency and toxicity on small airway epithelial cells model, retinal toxicity and disease modelling on retinal organoids and retina epithelium, as well as drug transport in the kidney, DDI and nephrotoxicity across human and a range of preclinical species.
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