Enabling engineered cell therapy with gentle & scalable microfluidics

CEO
Ryan Pawell
Founded
2015

Problem Tech Solves

Marketed

Tech Brief

Developing a scalable and efficient transfection method is crucial in accelerating the discovery, development, and manufacturing of gene-modified cell therapies. Researchers need a reliable alternative that can rapidly and efficiently introduce nucleic acids, proteins and gene-editing complexes into cells for a variety of applications. However, current transfection methods such as electroporation have seen less success with transfection due to high toxicity and other limitations.

Tech Differentiators

Hydropore™ is shown to have a similar yield to electroporation but with improved cell quality and no need for multiple cuvettes. This technology bypasses existing limitations of electroporation methods by using GMP-grade OptiMEM media and applying just a brief electric field, allowing for a gentler system with a larger processing window (>1 hour). As a result, cells demonstrate increased viability, improved proliferation and preserved cell function. Hydropore™ has a simple installation process with a nearly identical workflow to that of electroporation. For experiments that require multiple electroporation cuvettes, Hydropore™ leads to a lower cost per experiment relative to popular RUO electroporation systems. Ultimately, researchers are able to produce higher quality cells at a competitive price. Hydropore™ is currently available for Research Use Only (RUO) and is verified or in development for immune cells including T cells, Tregs and TILs, PBMCs, Natural Killer (NK) cells, cell models such as HEK293Ts & Jurkats and more. This platform is also verified for the delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 and mRNA to donor immune cells, specifically in primary human activated CD3+ T cells. For areas where we do not have existing datasets, Hydropore™ works well for actively dividing, suspended or trypsinized adherent cells that are 8~15 µm in diameter. Hydropore™ also delivers membrane impermeable small molecules and Cas9 RNPs where electroporation editing efficiencies are >20% and <3 kb nucleic acids like mRNA and DNA nanoplasmids. Due to the gentle nature of Hydropore™, it has been successful for all fragile and hard-to-transfect cell types tested to date.

Validation

Hydropore™ is being developed in collaboration with 3 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, various biotechs and leading research institutions including UC San Francisco, Stanford, Medical University of South Carolina, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease among others. We recently announced a 2-year Exclusive Distribution Deal in China with JC Medical Group that has 93 existing cell therapy customers. We also have two terms sheets in negotiation for our first non-exclusive Development, Licensing and Supply Agreements. The first pharma and biotech partner need our platform so badly that they are will to pay for instrument development for their specific use case.

Why Us

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