Alex Sargent – better known as “Sarge” – is currently the Director of Process Development at Charles River Laboratories. He obtained his PhD from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio, where he studied the challenges and promises of stem cell biology, neuroimmunology, and Cleveland sports teams. After a brief stint in academia at the Cleveland Clinic, he left Cleveland to pursue his industry career in cell therapy. During his many years in this industry, he has had the honor of working at several esteemed enterprises on new technologies and approaches for cell therapy scale up, automation, and gene editing. He is especially passionate about the challenge of curing cancer, working on CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapy process and analytical development from discovery, through regulatory submission, manufacturing, and pivotal clinical trials. He wakes up each day excited to help advance cell and gene therapy to treat and cure disease, with the steadfast goal of improving human lives.