Nucleus Biologics, a cell performance company, has launched its latest product to empower scientists to create optimized formulas using its AI-based technology.
David Sheehan, president and CEO at Nucleus Biologics, said the new product seeks to provide scientists the tools to better control their media and speed the time from discovery to cure.
The product, called NB-AIR, serves as a research platform for cell culture media. The platform is based on AI algorithms and allows scientists to create optimized formulas based on meta-analysis of peer-reviewed articles.
“We are democratizing formulations enabling scientists to tap into the collective knowledge of their peers, become experts quickly and own their media formulation,” he added.
Targeting Cell Therapy Developers
NB-AIR initially targeted for cell therapy developers, provides peer-tested compounds and formula recommendations based on cell type and critical quality attributes.
The AI-guided formulations will improve the performance of cell therapy and shorten the development time of the therapies, according to the firm.
“No longer must a scientist guess what to add to proprietary, sole-sourced medias or wait almost half a year to receive custom media. This is an industry-transforming tool. Imagine being able to take months of research and reduce it to minutes through the power of machine learning,” said Sheehan.
Nucleus Biologics is betting a growing number of scientists will no longer rely on major suppliers who sell proprietary media formulations. In 2019, the cell and gene therapy market has topped $1 billion and growing 36% annually.
Global Repository
In the last five years, the company has grown into a global provider of media and supplements for cell and gene therapy. Today, it owns one of the largest repositories of over 400 publicly available formulations.
Nucleus Biologics claims it has created the first tool that has allowed scientists to research and select components and formulations based on current published knowledge on conditions that impact cell performance.
In particular, scientists can visit Nucleus’s website to order media and receive formulation services, said Sheehan, adding that scientists can formulate the best cell culture media for their cell needs.
Users can also optimize each individual chemical component, testing requirements, and packaging.
“By customizing a media to the unique critical attributes of each therapy, developers can take control of formulations, rapidly progress from small to large scale production, and move therapies to the clinic faster,” said Sheehan.
Improving Cell Performance
Prior to founding Nucleus Biologics in 2016, Sheehan previously worked at Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ:VOLC) a $1.2 billion, life sciences company that was sold to Philips in 2015. He held various roles including the COO, EVP global operations and general manager Volcano Japan, and president of several business units.
Headquartered in Carlsbad, it employs 26 local staffers. In 2017, it expanded its offices to a 10,511 square foot office space to support its growth for the next several years.
A privately held company, Nucleus Biologics has raised undisclosed funding from a private equity firm and a local family office.
More recently, Nucleus Biologics acquired Primorigen Biosciences, a Wisconsin-based biotech to strengthen its role in feeding life science research from discovery to cure in 2019. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The industry is going towards more personalized medicine and cell-based therapies. In order to do that, you really have to control every component that’s in your system,” said Sheehan. “Looking forward, we want to create a constantly evolving technology ecosystem that allows therapy providers to create intellectual property that improves cell performance and reduces development time.”
