# A Novel Serum Alternative for Ex-vivo Expansion of Natural Killer Cells for Immunotherapy

> **NIH NIH R43** · ENABLE LIFE SCIENCES LLC · 2020 · $224,000

## Abstract

Abstract
Harnessing the therapeutic promise of immunotherapy against cancer has evolved from strategies focused on
the antigen-recognition mechanisms of adaptive immunity (e.g. checkpoint inhibition and CAR-T cells) to
strategies leveraging direct cytotoxicity mechanisms of innate immunity. The clinical impact of these exciting
new immunotherapy strategies can be realized only with customized technologies and products for Natural
Killer (NK) cells, central to direct cytotoxicity mechanisms of innate immunity - e.g. achieving reliable, low-risk
and low-cost ​ex vivo expansion of patient-derived NK cells, which remains a strong unmet need and an
underserved niche in immunotherapy. Our proposal aims to achieve a serum-free media supplement for NK
cells through a novel combination of plant-derived ingredients and traditional media supplements, guided in
prototyping with a fractional-factorial statistical toolkit for recipe optimization. To achieve this goal, our Phase-I
proposal outlines two specific aims - one to optimize the prototype serum-free media recipe with
cell-proliferation and viability performance being key end-points, and two to further fine-tune the prototype
serum-free media recipe with cytotoxicity and biomarker end-points pertaining to both apoptosis and necrosis
mechanisms of direct cytotoxicity by NK cells, both specific aims guided with a statistical approach for efficient
optimization. For the pursuit of both these specific aims, the proposed NK cell line is the p53 mutation based
KHYG1 NK cell line, followed by a confirmation of the key experimental end-points with 3 distinct batches of
primary human NK cells. At the end of Phase-I, we envision a lead formulation for a novel and effective
serum-free media supplement that is specific to NK cell growth and maintenance of NK cell phenotype and
functions (e.g. cytotoxicity mechanisms). The Enable Life Sciences LLC team is well positioned to pursue the
project goal starting with the proposed Phase-I specific aims. In addition to being led by the proposed Principal
Investigator (PI), Dr. Rachit Ohri (CEO and Founder of Enable Life Sciences) who has the relevant expertise,
the proposed effort will be well supported by other team members such as Donna Sonntag (MS from the
University of Massachusetts, Lowell) and other scientists and support staff. The Enable Life Sciences labs in
Worcester MA already houses the requisite equipment and instrumentation, namely flow cytometers, Luminex,
microscopes, BL2 (biosafety level 2) biological safety cabinets etc. Moreover, Enable Life Sciences is well
entrenched in an ecosystem in an around Worcester MA, which is deeply facilitative for the proposed
objectives of this Phase-I proposal. These include a supportive R&D and business environment, for example
access to advanced instrumentation such as multi-laser flow cytometry, confocal fluorescence microscopy etc.
at University Core Research Facilities (CRFs) at numerous campus sites in the North-East....

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10011207
- **Project number:** 1R43GM137742-01
- **Recipient organization:** ENABLE LIFE SCIENCES LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Rachit Ohri
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $224,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2021-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10011207

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10011207, A Novel Serum Alternative for Ex-vivo Expansion of Natural Killer Cells for Immunotherapy (1R43GM137742-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10011207. Licensed CC0.

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