Georgia Tech stands on the brink of a medical revolution, fueled by a monumental award from the Marcus Foundation. This transformative $40 million endeavor, with a principal investment of $20 million from the Marcus Foundation, promises to make high-quality, life-saving cell therapies more affordable, reliable, and accessible than ever before.
This was among the final initiatives personally directed by Bernie Marcus, the philanthropist, entrepreneur, and The Home Depot co-founder, before his passing in November 2024. Marcus invited Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera to his home in Boca Raton, Florida, to discuss Georgia Tech's capability to usher in a new era of regenerative medicine.
"I'll never forget my conversation with Bernie," Cabrera said. "His challenge to Georgia Tech was clear: Use our engineering expertise to make cell therapies more accessible and cost-effective and develop cures for incurable diseases.
"This generous award is a testament to our shared belief in the power of innovation and technology to improve lives, and it's an honor for Georgia Tech to fulfill Bernie's vision for the future of healthcare," he added.
The funding will ignite innovation at Georgia Tech's Marcus Center of Excellence for Cell Biomanufacturing, formerly named the Marcus Center for Therapeutic Cell Characterization and Manufacturing, which has been bioengineering potential cellular cures for more than seven years. It will enable Georgia Tech engineers to advance work at the center and within the National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Center in Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT), to develop automated bioreactor systems that eliminate the need for costly cleanrooms.
Marcus/CMaT Director Johnna Temenoff compared the current state of cell therapies to the early days of the automobile industry. She explained this new injection of funds will allow her team to shift from handcrafted production to an assembly-line approach.
"I firmly believe that for us to make good on the promises of these biotechnologies to improve healthcare worldwide, we must be able to manufacture them in a more reproducible and cost-effective manner. Georgia Tech's distinctive strength lies in our engineering expertise, allowing us to tackle difficult biological problems," Temenoff said.
The impact of this award extends beyond the laboratory. It has the potential to significantly boost Georgia's bioeconomy, making the state a hub for advanced therapy development and biomanufacturing. It will attract jobs and top-tier talent to the region.
Dr. Jonathan Simons, chief science officer and medical director of the Marcus Foundation, said Bernie Marcus liked to think of cells as "living drugs."
Simons explained, "This is life-extending, lifesaving, and life-changing material. It's not like making a drug like penicillin or Tylenol. This is not like a little blister pack of pills. This is a whole new frontier for pharmacology and the pharmaceutical industry."
Simons emphasized this is the latest chapter of both the Marcus Foundation's investment in biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Bernie Marcus's enduring biomedical research philanthropy.
"I think Bernie would say, 'I'm not interested in my legacy. I'm interested in how many patients in five years will benefit from this $40 million effort. It's all about lives changed, lives saved, and diseases ended,'" he said.
To learn more about Georgia Tech's research in cell and gene therapy biomanufacturing, visit cellmanufacturing.gatech.edu.
