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EVENTS

2024 NIST Rapid Microbial Testing Methods Consortium Workshop

Virtual Event

April 11 - 12, 2024

Virtual

Day 1 [9:45 am - 5 pm ET] Registration link below - green box -

Day 2 [9 am - 4 pm ET] Consortium members only. If you are interested in joining the RMTM Consortium, please complete the Letter of Interest (LOI) - blue box -

Registration for Day 1

RMTM Consortium LOI

Registration Contact

Stephanie Servetas

stephanie.servetas@nist.gov

(301) 975-0673

Technical Contact

Nancy Lin

nancy.lin@nist.gov

(301) 975-4935
Scott Jackson

scott.jackson@nist.gov

(301) 975-5460

RMTM Identifier — Credit: Natasha Hanacek

Quick Links

Workshop Booklet

Workshop Overview

The NIST-led Rapid Microbial Testing Methods (RMTM) Consortium launched in 2020 to develop standards and measurement-based solutions to advance the use of RMTMs in advanced therapy products.

NIST is hosting the 4th annual workshop on RMTMs to update the community on RMTM Consortium efforts and to work on Consortium deliverables. Over the course of two days, independent working sessions (1 h to 2 h in length) will be hosted, with Day 1 open to the public and Day 2 for Consortium members only. This open, virtual workshop is free of charge. All interested parties are invited to Day 1, including advanced therapy producers, RMTM assay/instrument developers, and cell reference material producers. New members are being accepted into the Consortium.

Day 1 (4/11/2024) -- Open to the Public -- Register Here

9:45-10:00	Welcome Remarks and Workshop Overview
10:00-12:00	NGS Based Sterility Testing Discuss the development of NGS-based analysis tools for microbial sterility testing in the biomanufacturing environment. Includes the development of custom reference genome/gene databases, bioinformatic pipelines, and standardized reporting formats.
12:00-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:00	NIST RMTM Consortium Update Overview of the NIST RMTM Consortium and updates on Working Group activities.
2:00-2:15	Break
2:15-3:30	Developments in RMTM Technology
3:30-3:45	Break
3:45-4:50	Roadmap for reference material characterization Overview and discussion of a draft roadmap to optimize methods for total cell count and total genome count on microbial cell reference materials. Gather input to refine technical considerations in the roadmap.
4:50-5:00	Day 1 Wrap-Up
5:00	Adjourn

Day 2 (4/12/2024) -- Consortium Members ONLY

9:00-10:30	RMTM Interlaboratory study discussion Interlaboratory Studies Working Group will present the plan (including draft experimental protocol and timeline) for the second RMTM interlaboratory study followed by open discussion and revisions.
10:30-10:45	Break
10:45-12:15	New Study: Quantification of total cell count for compendial organisms Discussion of the technical plan for quantifying total cell count in USP <71> compendial microorganisms, including identification of appropriate strains, potential inclusion of commercial materials, and selection of measurement methods. This study will evaluate the method optimization roadmap for cell count in terms of fitness-for-purpose and robustness across microbial strains.
12:15-1:15	Lunch
1:15-3:15	Validation Strategies Workflow Discussions on how to develop validation strategies for adopting new RMTMs in the current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) biomanufacturing environment. Includes topics related to: what to sample, reference materials, experimental design, statistical analysis, and assessing analytical performance.
3:15-4:00	Workshop Summary, Open Dialogue, & Next Steps
4:00	Adjourn

Bioscience, Biomanufacturing, Microbial measurements, Health, Biopharmaceuticals, Clinical diagnostics and Regenerative medicine and advanced therapy