CombiCult™ breaks the major bottleneck in stem cell research and development programmes – the discovery of optimised stem cell differentiation protocols. CombiCult™ also allows scientists to develop custom cell culture media (e.g. GMP compatible stem cell expansion media for cell therapy), create high value cell lines for toxicity testing in the pharmaceutical/cosmetic/nutrition industries, and to increase yield and/or decrease cost of bioprocess manufacturing.

“Plasticell’s  proprietary technology breaks the major bottleneck in current stem cell research. Having followed CombiCult™’s development for almost a decade, I am delighted that the importance of this revolutionary technology is now being recognised through multiple industry awards and patents”, commented Sir Martin Evans FRS, a founding member of Plasticell’s Scientific Advisory Board and recipient of the Nobel prize for the isolation of embryonic stem cells.

Dennis Saw, CEO of Plasticell added, “Since 2002, Plasticell has continually innovated and expanded intellectual property coverage to secure its leading position in the stem cell space. Granted patents in the USA, Europe and Japan mean that the CombiCult™ process, which underlies many of our technologies, is now protected in all the major biotech markets which we operate in.”

The Technology Strategy Board will provide a grant ofapproximately £0.9m towards the project as part of its Regenerative Medicine Programme.

Dennis Saw, Chief Executive of Plasticell said, “We are pleased to be able to contribute our longstanding expertise in directed differentiation of stem cells to this multidisciplinary team comprising leading groups in the field. The research will address a critical issue in human stem cell research, with downstream applications in regenerative medicine and cellular therapies.”

TERMIS 2011

Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine

The Technology Strategy Board will provide a grant of approximately £750k towards a £1.5 million project entitled ‘High Throughput Platform for the Discovery of GMP-Compatible Stem Cell Manufacturing Protocols’. The project will be performed by a research consortium led by Plasticell and will include the special health authority NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), Cell Guidance Systems Limited and LGC Limited.

The high cost of goods, difficulty of scale-up for biomanufacturing and need to ensure regulatory compliance are critical problems in the development of cellular therapies. This new project will tackle these challenges to deliver an integrated platform for the rapid identification of novel, optimised stem cell expansion and differentiation protocols that are easily translated to clinical grade manufacturing. The consortium will also develop technologies to address QC issues in the scale-up and manufacturing process.

Commenting on the award, Dennis Saw, Chief Executive of Plasticell, said: “Over the past five years, Plasticell has secured eight grants from Technology Strategy Board technology competitions. The awards have provided funding for projects costing over £6.2 million and recognise Plasticell’s innovation and consistent position at the cutting edge of stem cell research and the industry.”

Cell Therapy Manufacturing

9th Annual Commercial Translation of Regenerative Medicine

They will also be presenting a poster entitled “Hepatocyte and osteogenic differentiation protocols discovered using CombiCult^TM, a high-throughput screening stem cell differentiation technology”.

ELRIG – Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

He is also a panelist for “Manufacturing, Scale Up and Ensuring GMP Compliancy” at 11.00 AM EST.

Please quote RegenSpeaker when you register to avail a 20% discount.

Regenerative Medicine: Barriers to Commercialisation Online Summit 2011