FORUM Sir Colin Dollery Lecture 2025: Engineering the future through cell and gene therapies

Engineering the future through cell and gene therapies

The FORUM Sir Colin Dollery Lecture 2025, ‘Engineering the future through cell and gene therapies’, was delivered by Professor Adrian Thrasher FMedSci, a world leader in the research and translation of cell and gene therapies for rare disease. His talk was followed by an expert cross-sector panel.

The event was chaired by Professor Andrew Morris CBE FRSE PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and took place in person at 11 Cavendish Square, London and online on Monday 7 July.

The cross-sector expert panel included:

• Professor Adrian Thrasher FMedSci, Professor in Paediatric Immunology at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Co-founder of Orchard Therapeutics
• Dr Jacqueline Barry, Chief Clinical Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
• Chris Kessler, Parent of a child with a rare disease
• Dr Andrew Wilfin, Senior Country Medical Director at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

• Dr Anji Miller, Senior Academic Engagement Partner and Fellowship Programme Director at LifeArc

Cell and gene therapies have the groundbreaking potential to treat or cure a range of conditions, including previously untreatable diseases. By targeting specific cells and/or genetic material, they offer treatment that is customised to the biology of the patient. These therapies are part of the field of engineering biology, which applies engineering principles to biology to produce new technologies.

Cell and gene therapies could bring transformative benefits for patients, but there are challenges in developing and implementing them:

• They can be complex and expensive to develop and manufacture 

• They can be difficult to make commercially viable 

• Risks around safety and efficacy can make regulation complicated 

• Healthcare systems require the funds, as well as the equipment and expertise to deliver the treatments

Following the lecture, a cross-sector expert panel explored how to overcome some of these challenges, so that the potential of cell and gene therapies can be fully realised.

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions about the event.

The FORUM Sir Colin Dollery Lecture is part of the Academy’s FORUM programme, which brings together participants from different sectors and groups to meet and take forward national discussions on scientific opportunities, technology trends, and developments for healthcare.

The Lecture is named in honour of Sir Colin Dollery FMedSci, who was instrumental in the creation of FORUM in his role as Treasurer in 2003.