Overview

• Researchers at USC's Keck School of Medicine have introduced a spectral flow cytometry platform capable of analyzing 36 cellular markers simultaneously, greatly surpassing traditional methods.
• The study reveals that CAR T cells harvested after five days of expansion exhibit superior stem-like and metabolic traits linked to better therapeutic outcomes compared to cells expanded for ten days.
• Published in the 25th-anniversary issue of *Molecular Therapy*, the findings highlight the platform’s potential to optimize CAR T manufacturing by pinpointing ideal harvesting windows.
• The platform offers broader applications, including benchmarking gene-editing techniques like CRISPR, identifying predictive biomarkers, and enhancing clinical trial monitoring.
• Researchers aim to integrate the system into clinical workflows and collaborate with industry partners to scale its use in next-generation cell therapy production.