ESGCT 2025 | Cytiva
At #ESGCT2025, the future of cell and gene therapy is taking center stage, and Aaron got the inside scoop from two leaders driving it forward: Suha Zwayen, PhD, leading Cytiva’s nanomedicine business unit across EMEA, and Claudia Gagliardini, heading Cytiva’s gene therapy business unit across EMEA.
During their chat, they unpacked the latest trends, from in vivo cell therapies to personalized cancer vaccines, and shared why ESGCT is more than a conference—it’s a vibrant community where ideas, connections, and a little friendly competition come together.
Full of energy and inspiration, this conversation highlights innovation, collaboration, and the power of building lasting connections.
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Description teSpeakers: Aaron, Suha, & Claudia
Aaron: Can you hear me? You got it? Okay, so I'll ask some basic questions about things like your role, how many years you've been coming to ESGCT, and why it’s important. Then we may talk about some trends and what makes a business memorable. I want to know if you could pick one word that you would like to describe Cytiva, what would it be? Just one.
Claudia: Innovation.
Aaron: Wow, she had an answer right away! Okay, we'll go head-to-head on this. All right, cool. We'll get started. And it’s Suha?
Suha: Suha.
Aaron: Suha. Arabic origin? Cool. You ready? Hello everyone. We are here at ESGCT and I am in the Cytiva booth. I’m very cozy here with some friends who I’ve actually seen before—I saw Claudia before at Rare Disease Day with Viralgen. It’s so good to see you, and Suha, nice to meet you today. You have a very important role at Cytiva. Can you tell everybody what you do?
Suha: So I do lead the modality for the nanomedicine business unit at Cytiva and I'm responsible for EMEA.
Aaron: Wait, that's a lot! That's quite a bit. And for those that don't know Claudia, maybe you could tell everybody what your role is at Cytiva.
Claudia: Very similar to Suha, I'm leading the gene therapy business unit across EMEA at Cytiva.
Aaron: Okay, cool. Have you guys been to the show before? How many years have you been going to ESGCT?
Suha: Five years.
Claudia: I started ESGCT before COVID. I think it's more than five years.
Aaron: You probably have seen some changes, I'm assuming. So what do you come to ESGCT for? Why do you like to come each year?
Suha: I think it's a good platform to see the latest innovation, look into market trends, and of course, connecting with new clients and existing clients. I think it's a good platform overall.
Aaron: It’s like a high school reunion. You walk around and see friends everywhere you go, yeah?
Suha: Exactly. And you can make new friends too.
Claudia: For me it's like a sort of community because at a certain point you know each other. But what I like about this congress compared to others is it's still a very educational congress. There is a lot of new information about what's going on in terms of new ways of delivering those therapies. For example, this year it’s a big hype around cell-free, viral vector-free, and so on. There is also a good opportunity to reach out to old friends.
Aaron: Okay, yes it is true. You cued me up well, though. I'm always interested in what people are excited about within the industry. There have been some interesting breakthroughs and now we're finally getting to see these drugs make it into market. So what are you both excited about this year for cell and gene therapy?
Suha: I can do that. I've been seeing some new trends. There is some interest towards cell therapy in vivo within LNP, which is very interesting. We've seen previously some trends towards ex vivo cell manipulation, hematopoietic stem cells within LNP, but it's interesting to see some new companies or academia institutes that are going towards more of an in vivo approach. This is an area that we are looking into supporting with our existing solutions. Additionally, there is movement towards personalized cancer vaccines. These new areas of innovation are what make research continuous.
Aaron: That was a great answer. Do you have anything else that you're looking forward to this year?
Claudia: What I can say is, as I said, there is a lot of innovation going on—new modalities to deliver those therapies, which is great and we need it. This is a sort of healthy competition that we need. But there is also a way of delivering those therapies that now are mature enough to take the next step; they need to be more standardized because we need to reach a certain level of quality and repeatability. This kind of congress is a good moment to put together the knowledge of companies like Cytiva that come from manufacturing sites—who know how to work in GMP and how to structure technology—with these companies that are developing processes. We talk to each other and find a solution to make it real.
Aaron: Have you guys brought any research to this year's show? Any scientific posters?
Suha: Yeah, I think we do have research with one of our R&D team coming all the way from Vancouver. And she is showcasing our cell therapy ex vivo kits for LNP—some new modalities. Then how to scale up that with the Xuri, etc. How that fits within the existing Cytiva workflow for cell therapy. We do have that with the poster team; she is down there if you want to have a look.
Aaron: That would be very interesting. That's what people are here for. I always like to ask this question of big, important brands: Could you give me one word that you'd like to have people remember Cytiva by after they get to meet you?
Claudia: Innovation. I say that a lot and I still think that is an important point.
Aaron: And tell me this year what kind of innovations are coming out.
(A machine begins operating loudly in the background)
Aaron: I think we're interviewing the machine as well! What do you have to say? Busy doing its job.
Claudia: It is not really an innovation itself, it is a new part of the family called iCellis, which is a bioreactor for producing a viral vector from adherent lines, and now we are launching a new scale. For any scale that the company needs—from a very small scaling process development up to a full GMP—now we have a solution because we complete the entire family. This just came to my mind because it's sitting right here next to you.
Aaron: Okay, so lots of innovation. Suha, what word would you use to explain Cytiva to people?
Suha: I think I will go with customer-centric. We take pride in that and we do believe that the customer’s product or project is ours. We take pride in ensuring that they reach their milestones, they have good results, and they're very well supported by our scientific team.
Aaron: I love that. When you think about ESGCT, what's one word that comes to mind?
Claudia: Networking.
Suha: I will steal your word: community. I've been using that a lot with the ESGCT as well. It's a huge community and it's a very strong community. It's very knowledgeable and it's always good to come every single year.
Aaron: I like that a lot.
Claudia: And the molecular mingle dinner! It’s beautiful.
Aaron: Oh yeah, this year it’s going to be taking place in a Hacienda. We always look forward to that because it's like everybody gets to relax for a minute and then you get to see a completely different community—a community that likes to party.
Claudia: This is where you can find new connections. Last year I met a professor from Stanford; he was amazing. You can really find new people that usually during the day you cannot.
Aaron: Yes, it's a great time for people to get together across academia and commercial. Okay, last question. You're both very successful women leaders in the biotech space. What advice do you give people who are trying to get into the industry?
Suha: Teamwork. If you are working in a way that you are teamworking with your mates and your colleagues, never think about it as a competition. Eventually, when you win, you win as a team. Even if you team up with your client, it's their project and your project. Stronger together—that is my mantra. It's a very competitive industry; without having a good solid team around you, you're not going to make it. Don't try to go solo.
Claudia: I love what she says. I would say speak up, go around, and make strong connections—build them. Really mean to do it as part of your job. And more importantly, don't compromise on who you are. Never. You are who you are. You go out, you create your community, and you move forward.
Aaron: Every time I meet you, I love who you are. Such good energy. I agree with all of that. I think it is difficult for a lot of people to take the leap because they're shy, but you will find that if you just stop and talk to anyone at these shows, they're very accessible and they want to talk. Listen to Claudia: go for it. You can blame me later. It’s Suha, right? It was so nice to meet you today. Claudia, it was wonderful to see you again. At some point we're going to find out her secret for where she gets all her glasses. We'll find out what her secret is! But thank you guys for joining me. We'll see you soon.xt goes here