Plasticell’s high throughput screen for stem cell differentiation joins list of the most significant technology products developed globally in the last 49 years
Plasticell, the biotechnology company specialising in high throughput technologies for directed stem cell differentiation, has won the prestigious R&D 100 Award for its CombiCult™v2.0 system. The CombiCult™ platform is a high-throughput combinatorial screening technology that allows scientists to discover optimal stem cell differentiation protocols in record time, revolutionizing stem cell research and opening new avenues of discovery.
The introduction of CombiCult™ marked one of the most significant advancements in stem cell R&D as it targets a critical bottleneck in any stem cell research programme – developing protocols that optimally direct stem cells to develop into a differentiated cell type of choice. The terminally differentiated cells have numerous applications in biomedical research and regenerative medicine.
Innovations in the second generation platform, CombiCult™ 2.0, include a streamlined workflow with specially developed laboratory consumables and automation, and powerful proprietary bioinformatics software that result in marked improvements in speed and reliability compared to the first generation platform. CombiCult™ has been deployed successfully internally and by customers on a variety of adult and embryonic stem cells, to generate a wide range of tissue types including blood, neuron, bone, cartilage, liver and heart.
The R&D 100 Awards, also known as the “Oscars of Innovation”, is now in its 49th year and recognizes the 100 most technologically significant products of the year. Many previous winners have since become household names with notable inventions including the artificial kidney (1970), the ATM (1973), the halogen lamp (1974), the fax machine (1975), liposome encapsulated drugs (1976), the LCD (1980), advanced wind turbine blades (1991), the nicotine patch (1992), Taxol anticancer drug (1993), HDTV (1998), clean diesel technology (1999) and Corning’s optical fiber (2008).
Dr Yen Choo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Plasticell commented: “This is a tremendous achievement for everyone involved in the development of our CombiCult™ platform, and a significant endorsement of the product’s potential to revolutionise stem cell research and development of regenerative medicine. Plasticell is currently exploiting the technology in very exciting projects with big pharma and biotech companies which we expect to translate into notable medical advancements over the next few years. I am extremely pleased that my colleagues’ work in driving the technological breakthrough should receive such credit just as our system is gaining recognition as the state-of-the-art in stem cell research.”
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