LAB ROUNDUP 20 September: Acquisition, appointments, new builds, certification, investment
20 Sep 2023
Industrial microbiology and quality risk management specialist Kate Coleman joins regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, auditing & QA solutions and services provider Arriello as VP of Quality & Compliance. She was formerly PharmaLex Senior Director/Principal Consultant for Quality Management and Compliance and QMC Head of the UK/Ireland region.
Cytomos biotech company has hired Dr Sharon Brownlow as Non-Executive Director. Brownlow will help accelerate Cytomos’ plans to commercialise its cell analysis technology in 2024. The company stated its Dielectric Spectroscopy (CDS) platform would radically transform biopharma R&D’s velocity and revolutionise bioprocess PAT adaptation by enabling collection of a multitude of data on the intrinsic properties of individual cells in real-time.
BES, the specialist in the design and delivery of complex facilities for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, completed a £2.5 million project to create a new pharmacy and aseptic suite at Weston Park Hospital (pictured) for the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The facilities are intended to futureproof the hospital’s drug preparation capabilities on-site, with an ATMP-classified environment that enables the production of regenerative medicine, personalised treatments, and the development of nanomedicines.
Optibrium, a leading developer of software and AI solutions for drug discovery, acquired BioPharmics LLC, expanding its 3D drug design and modelling offering. BioPharmics’ CEO, Dr Ajay Jain, and Director of Applied Science, Dr Ann Cleves, join the Optibrium team, respectively focusing on R&D and Application Science in the newly-created BioPharmics Division.
Berlin-based manufacturer of liquid chromatography equipment and other laboratory instruments, KNAUER has passed its certification audit according to EN ISO 13485. For many years it has applied quality management according to EN ISO 9001 and environmental management according to EN ISO 14001 but its new quality standard for medical devices, would enable development of further market segments, said Kate Monks (pictured), Head of Quality & Regulatory: "It was a fair bit of work to expand our quality management system for medical device development and manufacturing, but we did it on the first try, and I'm really proud of our team. We are all delighted about the success.”
CN Bio, the Organ-on-a-Chip (OOC) company that designs and manufactures single-and multi-organ microphysiological systems has appointed Dr. Tomasz Kostrzewski as Chief Scientific Officer. Formerly Vice President of Science and Technology, he has more than 15 years of experience in molecular and cellular biology research.
Astanor announced it raised €360 Million in final closing of its Second Venture Fund, saying it was increasing its commitment to sustainable agrifood technologies. The company’s funds and special purpose vehicles now amount to c.€800 million assets under management.
Vetter, the global contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), has been awarded Frost & Sullivan’s 2023 Global Customer Value Leadership Award (pictured) in the aseptic fill-and-finish market for the company’s high performance for its customers. The award, presented annually focuses on business and customer impact along with industry status and trends in the market. In previous years Vetter was awarded for Customer Value Leadership and Customer Service Leadership.
Drug discovery and development company harnessing novel deubiquitinase (DUB) modulators as new therapeutics for areas of high unmet medical need, Ubiquigent has appointed Dr Rishi Shah as Head of Chemistry. Shah’s expertise in heterobifunctional molecules will support Ubiquigent’s internal drug discovery and strategic partnerships in the design, discovery, and development of DUB inhibitors, DUB-targeting Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) and DUB-targeting Chimeras (DUBTACs).
AMSBIO, supplier of human cell lines and research tools, will collaborate with WARR Space Labs, a student group from the Technical University of Munich (TUM on their project to advance understanding of neurodegenerative disorders through spaceborne experiments.
The ADDONISS (Ageing and Degenerative Diseases of Neurons on the ISS) project will conduct research on neuronal cell cultures in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. AMSBIO’s contribution includes providing the SH-SY5Y/GFP stable cell line and granting €1k towards the team’s funding costs while they were conducting research at the NASA laboratories. Selina Kanamüller, a member of WARR Space Labs team, said: “The experience of getting to conduct research in NASA laboratories has been unforgettable. Thanks to the help of AMSBIO and our extensive preparations for more than a year, everything went well.”
Bruntwood SciTech received planning approval for the redevelopment of specialist Manchester Science Park based lab scheme, Greenheys. The £60 million project (pictured) will create a six-storey purpose-built development designed specifically for scaling life science businesses working in diagnostics, genomics, biotech and precision medicine. Home to UK Biobank, it will feature a range of specialist CL2 labs starting from 2,500 sq ft and up to 22,000 sq ft floors and be a core hub in attracting inward investment into UK regions. Bruntwood SciTech is a 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal & General.
