When Manufacturing Becomes Part of the Care Pathway

Wednesday 29 July 2026 | MS Teams

5pm AEDT | 7pm NZ

Guest Speaker: Mark Holmes, Lab-works Architecture

CAR T-cell therapy currently offers patients with complex blood cancers a treatment alternative when others have not worked. Because this highly personalised therapy relies on collecting a patient’s own immune cells, modifying them to better recognise and attack cancer cells, and returning them as quickly and safely as possible, access depends on highly specialised manufacturing infrastructure.

For Australia and New Zealand, reliance on northern hemisphere facilities can add time, cost and complexity to an already intensive treatment journey. Investment in BioOra’s Christchurch hub, supported by its TRI Brisbane node, signals a major shift toward bringing advanced cell therapy manufacturing closer to patients, clinicians and research partners across the region.

This emerging hub-and-spoke model has the potential to reduce reliance on offshore production while strengthening sovereign capability in personalised medicine. We look forward to hearing from LabWorks, who led the design and planning of BioOra’s Christchurch facility, and exploring how the built environment can help unlock the next generation of cancer care.

Mark Holmes joined the team at Lab-works Architecture in 2003 and is based in Wellington. As Principal and Studio Manager, Mark has been involved in all stages of contract documentation of a number of complex projects across the science sector including GMP clean room facilities, hospital laboratory containment facilities and most recently the Bio Ora Car-T cell clean room facility in Christchurch.

His strong technical leadership skills contribute to the successful outcomes of complex laboratory and science facilities projects. Mark is well versed in running coordination workshops therefore projects are completed to a high standard with clear and thorough documentation throughout the project life cycle.