Advanced Therapy Manufacturers May Turn to Virtual Reality
Genetic Engineering News recently addressed how the life sciences sector, specifically advanced therapy manufacturing, must meet demand by expanding their workforce in upcoming years. CEO and co-founder of Virtual Reality startup for cell and gene therapy, FourPlus, Hayley Mulhall, PhD, has said that training methods are a catalyst for this.
FourPlus launched in April, and provides high-end virtual laboratories allowing technicians to train using head-mounted displays. The Birmingham (UK) based company is already liaising with customers and working on a project; they design bespoke solutions, however are also working on off-the-shelf software. Mulhall will be talking about her company at the 17th Annual bioProcessUK Conference this December at a pitching event for best new technology.
According to her, reducing consumable costs and “taking equipment out of production” for training is beneficial. Further advantages of VR technology mentioned in the article include:
- “Learning by productive failure” – technicians can make errors in VR that they couldn’t in a physical lab
- Allows for data capture and visualisation – for example, locating which areas a technician has cleaned
- Personalised training to the experiences and background of each user
Mulhall explains why she founded the company, stating that the oil and gas industry is advancing in its use of VR, therefore she thought the technology would also be useful for life sciences. FourPlus have a large, multi-disciplinary developer team working on transferring life science processes into VR, overcoming industry obstacles.
Read the full article here.