By Kyle Marshall | This article originally appeared via NCBiotech’s blog.
A biotechnology equipment company from a small town in upstate New York is becoming a bigger player in helping boost the Piedmont Triad’s growing expertise in regenerative medicine.
Privately held BioSpherix LLC provides technology that keeps cells viable. Its closed-environment cell culture and manufacturing system is a key feature of the test bed at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, where startups can build and evaluate prototype products and devices.
The company is now involved in a new project in Winston-Salem. It’s establishing the BioSpherix Center for Cytocentric Technology, which will be part of the Regenerative Medicine Engine in North Carolina, the support organization for the Triad’s expanding field of regenerative medicine.
BioSpherix is using funds from a grant through the Regenerative Medicine Engine, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, to establish the center. The grant, totaling $2.5 million, is being split among six companies as part of the organization’s inaugural grant program to support the commercialization of new devices and therapies in regenerative medicine.
Partnerships to boost regenerative medicine
When the BioSpherix center opens late this year, it’s expected to serve as a home base for the company’s partnerships with organizations advancing regenerative medicine, which involves helping the body heal through restoring and enhancing diseased tissues and organs.
“There’s nothing BioSpherix does in Winston-Salem that is for BioSpherix solely,” said Ahmed Mustafa, CEO of the company, with headquarters in Parish, N.Y., about 30 miles north of Syracuse. “Every conversation in Winston-Salem is a collaborative discussion between BioSpherix and a partner company.”
The center will also help simplify and improve training for the Triad’s growing workforce in regenerative medicine, the Regenerative Medicine Engine noted in its grant announcement.
“We continue to see the field of regenerative medicine expand and build on its potential,” said Nancy Johnston, executive director of NCBiotech’s Piedmont Triad Office. “When companies like BioSpherix make a commitment to the Piedmont Triad, it builds on the region’s success in becoming a global hub for regenerative medicine.”
Maintaining cell viability
The BioSpherix closed-system cell processing environment, called Xvivo, is designed to protect cells during research, as well as in the development of new cells. As the basic building blocks of life, cells must remain viable through a variety of conditions in both research and clinical applications.
In addition to establishing its new center in downtown Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter, BioSpherix is enhancing its capabilities through a new partnership with Cellbox Solutions Inc., a Rockville, Md., company that makes incubators used to transport living cells and tissues.
The deal enables BioSpherix to extend its controlled environment for cells beyond locations where its Xvivo system is installed. The Cellbox system will be used when living cells need to go from one facility or clinic to another.
“If you’re growing cells in a physiologically relevant condition, you want to transport them in that condition,” Mustafa said.
