Atelerix is looking to recruit an essential sales administrative role to support sales and management activities, providing knowledgeable technical support and ensuring that products are shipped and invoiced correctly. Based in the new Biosphere building in Newcastle upon Tyne the role offers the flexibility to work remotely as well as in the company’s offices. This is a part-time role of 24 hours per week (preferably spread evenly across the working week) with the possibility to progress to a full time position.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Order Management:

  • Maintain all sales and ordering databases/spreadsheets updated
  • Draft and provide quotes as directed
  • Manage all inboxes and company telephone, giving timely responses to queries and ensuring that others are brought in to support either in busy times or for cases where additional expertise is needed to resolve an issue
  • Update internal and external systems consistently, ensuring accuracy of data. Be able to produce reports for both internal and external use, and track progress against internal and external KPIs
  • Receive and process all sales orders on our ERP system and issue invoices once product is shipped
  • Ensuring the sales orders are fulfilled in a timely and accurate manner, by working with the logistics team
  • Dealing with customer order issues, caused by delayed delivery, wrong or faulty items sent
  • Preparation of weekly orders, revenue and backlog amounts for communication to the company

Daily office operations:

  • To provide general administrative support as required, including (but not exclusively) purchasing and other financial transactions, booking travel, assisting with the running of events, welcoming visitors, administering post, preparing routine correspondence, and diary management
  • Other duties may be assigned as needed

Essential skills:

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Able to professionally communicate with scientific and non-scientific audiences, changing style, tone and format appropriately
  • Excellent interpersonal and team working skills, and ability to develop effective working relationships
  • Experience of providing a professional, customer-focused administrative service
  • Ability to prioritise own work, work independently if needed, and to manage competing deadlines
  • Flexibility and a positive approach to tasks, activities and situations
  • Outstanding attention to detail
  • Uses systems and tools to ensure data recording is clear and up to date
  • Good numeracy skills
  • Excellent IT skills, in particular the use of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook), virtual conferencing apps (Zoom) and accounting software (Xero)
  • Experience developing and implementing marketing activities, including writing of messaging for emails, social media, and presentations (desirable)
  • Experience in managing e-commerce platforms for sales orders (desirable)
  • Experience with CRM software (desirable)

Qualifications:

  • Equivalent work experience on previous sales administration roles (essential)
  • Good honours degree (or equivalent) with some subject knowledge in the area of Life Sciences (desirable)

About Atelerix Ltd
Atelerix is a UK-based company whose patented technology is transforming the storage and transport of living cells by enabling extended storage at temperatures between 4°C and 25°C while preserving their functional viability. The company’s customers are developing cell-based therapeutics, cell lines, organoids and assays for use in drug discovery and development. Atelerix products eliminate the need for complex ultra-low temperature logistics and potentially harmful freeze-thaw processes, providing greater quality, consistency of performance, flexibility, convenience and security as critical samples are shipped around the world.

Click here to apply. 

Atelerix, producer of critical cell preservation technologies, appoints a new CEO to lead its growing business and entry into cell therapy markets

Cambridge and Newcastle, UK, 06 January 2021 – Atelerix Ltd (Atelerix) announces the appointment of a new CEO as the company accelerates its growth programme. Over the last four years, the company has been led by co-founder and CEO, Mick McLean, as it developed its products and started commercialisation of its innovative cell encapsulation technology. Mick is now stepping back for personal reasons but will continue supporting the company as a Non-Executive Director.

Edwin Wagena, currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer of the company, will take over as the new CEO.

Edwin Wagena appointed as new CEO for Atelerix

Edwin is an accomplished senior executive with over 20 years’ experience in the cell therapy sector and in clinical development in general. Since 2008, he has specialised in the development of ATMPs and orphan drugs, and has designed and managed the European and North-American regulatory strategy and development program for several innovative therapies, including those in late-stage clinical trials.

Steve Docksey, Executive Chairman of Atelerix commented: “The company is building on a foundation of outstanding technology and exciting commercial opportunities, the result of excellent work by the team led by Mick. On behalf of the Board and Shareholders, I would like to thank Mick for his excellent leadership of the company since its formation and we look forward to his continuing role with the company. We are delighted that Edwin will be stepping into the CEO role and particularly at a time when advanced therapeutics are providing strong expansion opportunities for Atelerix. Edwin’s knowledge of clinical and process/product development of cell-based therapies as well as their manufacturing will be vital to our expansion. In addition, his leadership experience combined with strong organisational and operational skills will be a real asset as the company executes its multi-faceted growth plans.”

Dr Edwin Wagena, CEO Atelerix commented : “I am really excited to lead the team at Atelerix as we pursue our revenue growth objectives in the Discovery markets as well as expanding to new business opportunities linked to cell-based therapeutics and the collection of viruses and delivery of related therapies.”

For more information on the Atelerix cell encapsulation technology, please visit www.atelerix.co.uk or please contact:

Edwin Wagena
CEO, Atelerix Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)191 580 6181
Email: edwin.wagena@atelerix.co.uk

About Atelerix Ltd
Atelerix is a UK-based company whose patented technology is transforming the storage and transport of living cells by enabling extended storage at temperatures between 4°C and 25°C while preserving their functional viability. The company’s customers are developing cell-based therapeutics, cell lines, organoids and assays for use in drug discovery and development. Atelerix products eliminate the need for complex ultra-low temperature logistics and potentially harmful freeze-thaw processes, providing greater quality, consistency of performance, flexibility, convenience and security as critical samples are shipped around the world.

Click here to download the press release

CELLINK and Atelerix announced today a partnership to bring to market Atelerix’s portfolio of innova­tive hydrogel biological encapsulation products, which preserve fragile biological samples for shipping at room temperature. Conven­tional shipping methods often involve storing cells and tissues in liquid nitrogen or dry ice, which requires a freeze-thaw process notorious for damaging biological material. Therefore, the global bioprinting community will greatly benefit from Atelerix products that allow for room-temperature storage and shipping of sensitive primary cells, iPSC-derived cells, multicellular models and especially cell-laden bioprinted constructs, such as those manufactured with CELLINK’s range of innovative 3D bioprinters.

“Ultimately, it’s the simple things that make a difference,” says Dr. Himjyot Jaiswal, CELLINK’s Scientific Team Lead for Tissue Engineering and Cell Biology. “This technology will enable scientists to ‘lower the barrier’ for initiating lab-to-lab collaborations that require ‘living material’ to be moved from one researcher to another.”

Atelerix’s range of innovative products, including BeadReady™ (used for cells in suspension), WellReady™ (used for plated cells and cell-laden bioprinted constructs) and TissueReady™ (used for tissue samples and larger cell-laden bioprinted constructs), will be available for purchase from CELLINK, so that the research community may procure all their bioprinting requirements in one place.

“The news of two of the most exciting and innovative life science companies coming together to enable the scientific community to ship biofabricated 3D models is incredibly important,” says Steve Swioklo, CSO of Atelerix. “The manufacture of cell-laden bioprinted constructs is one of the fastest growing application areas in today’s life science industry, but it is hampered by the need to ship bioprinted tissues and models from one laboratory to another whilst preserving cell viability and fine structure integrity. Atelerix’s products now make that possible.”

CELLINK CSO Dr. Itedale Namro Redwan agrees, “We are very pleased to announce this very important partnership with Atelerix. The technology that they provide for shipping 3D bioprinted constructs, tissues and cells at room temperature will have a major impact on how collaborations between labs are executed—and even on how tissues and organs are transported from lab-to-clinic or clinic-to-clinic. We see the Atelerix range of products complementing our bioprinter and bioink portfolio well.”

For further information, please contact:

CELLINK Atelerix
Erik Gatenholm, CEO
Phone (Sweden): +46 73 267 00 00
Phone (US): +1 (650) 515 5566
Email: eg@cellink.com

Gusten Danielsson, CFO
Phone (Sweden): +46 70 991 86 04
Phone (US): +1 (857) 332 2138
Email: gd@cellink.com
Arvid Wallgrens Backe 20
413 46 Gothenburg
Sweden		 Mick Mclean, CEO
Phone (HQ): +44 191 580 6181
Phone (Mob.): +44 7817 44 44 85
Email: mick.mclean@atelerix.co.uk

Sanj Kumar, CBO
Phone (HQ): +44 191 580 6181
Phone (Mob.): +44 7860 89 29 44
Email: sanj.kumar@atelerix.co.uk
The Biosphere, Draymans Way
Newcastle Helix
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5BX, UK

About CELLINK

CELLINK is the leading bio-convergence company and a global provider of technologies, products and services to create, understand and master biology. With a focus on the areas of bioprinting, biosciences and industrial solutions, the company develops and markets innovative technologies that enable researchers in the life sciences to culture cells in 3D, perform high-throughput drug screening and print human tissues and organs for the medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. CELLINK’s products are trusted by more than 1,800 laboratories, including ones at all the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, are being used in more than 60 countries, and have been cited in more than 700 publications. CELLINK is creating the future of medicine. Visit cellink.com to learn more. CELLINK is listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market under CLNK B.

Click here to download the press release

Atelerix Ltd, innovators in the storage and transport of cells at room temperature, has been chosen to participate in SLAS’s prestigious Innovation AveNEW at SLAS’s 2021 Digital International Conference and Exhibition, taking place online on January 25-27, 2021 at slas.org/2021

The selection committee concluded that Atelerix’s new product will have a significant impact on the field of life sciences discovery and technology. WellReady™ is used for the transport of live cells in microtiter plates at room temperature thus avoiding damaging freeze-thaw processes and so will enable the drug discovery community to produce assay-ready plates for cellular assays. The judges made the Innovation AveNEW selection, commenting that Atelerix’s WellReady™ showed clarity of vision, a significant market opportunity and demonstrated compelling science and technology.

The Atelerix technology encapsulates cells in alginate gel, which enables unfrozen human cells to be transported safely between 2°C and 25°C to help preserve and extend their functional viability and potency. For the SLAS community, WellReady™ is a paradigm-changing technology as the community uses cellular models for both early drug discovery and mechanism of action studies. Though cryopreservation is often considered, these complex cellular models used in drug discovery are very susceptible to damage by freeze-thaw cycles.  WellReady™ offers a superior alternative to the challenges of deep-freeze processes and cryologistics.

SLAS is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers coupled with the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology.  SLAS advances scientific innovation by providing education, collaboration and professional development that unites scientists across disciplines and transforms research.

Atelerix is a UK based biotechnology company that is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and has an R&D and production facility in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. It offers a range of encapsulation products for preservation of cells in suspension, adherent or plated cells and even for tissue samples.  All these products can be used to ship biological material at room temperature, avoiding deep-freeze processes and cryologistics and so retaining the viability and integrity of the encapsulated material.

Download a copy of this press release here.

Funding will be used to explore scalable methods of human cell preservation, transport, and re-presentation for clinical applications

Cambridge and Newcastle, UK, 03 September 2020: Atelerix Ltd (Atelerix), pioneers in the storage and transport of cells at room temperature, has received a significant award under the UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) Accelerator Programme from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency. The funding will support the development of room temperature solutions for shipping therapeutic cells, as part of the Company’s “BloodReady” project. This project will explore scalable methods of cell preservation, transport and re-presentation for patient administration to offer cell therapy developers and manufacturers flexibility in workflows, and remove the need for expedited shipments of frozen packages.

Living cells are fragile and short-lived outside of their natural environment. Therapies that are frozen for storage can reduce the viability and potency of the cells when thawed for injection into the patient, and those that cannot be frozen often require complicated and expensive logistics to ensure their delivery to the hospital and the patient. Extending the shelf-life of the cells could help to ensure that hospitals have flexibility to schedule operating theatres to administer these products, and enable many more patients to be treated with novel, potentially curative therapies.

The Atelerix method encapsulates cells in alginate gel, offering an innovative solution for storing cells at room temperature. The technology enables unfrozen human cells to be transported at temperatures between 4°C and 25°C to help preserve and extend their functional viability and potency. Small-scale research projects have shown the technology to be effective with a wide variety of cell types. The new Innovate UK funding will enable the Company to scale these methods, enabling larger volumes of cells to be safely transported while continuing to preserve their viability.

Dr Mick McLean, CEO, Atelerix Ltd, commented: “Cellular therapies offer the possibility of treatments for diseases and conditions that cannot be approached by conventional drugs. New capabilities enabling storage and transport of therapeutic cells are vital if these life-saving treatments are to be made widely available to many more patients.

Atelerix’s ground-breaking technology eliminates the need for complex cryoshipping logistics and potentially harmful freeze-thaw processes, offering greater flexibility, convenience and security as critical samples are shipped around the world. We believe our innovative human cell preservation technology could be paradigm changing for cold supply logistics, and we are proud to have it recognised by such a highly respected grant funding body.”

Dr Andrew Muir, Investment Director, UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund, said: “The application of Atelerix’s core technology to cell therapy is a great example of using additional equity finance from UKI2S, a founding investor in Atelerix, alongside grant funding from Innovate UK to accelerate high growth potential businesses.”

For more information on the Atelerix cell encapsulation technology, visit: https://www.atelerix.co.uk/technology/

Download a copy of this press release here.

Dr Mick McLean,
CEO, Atelerix Ltd

 Dr Andrew Muir, Investment Director,
UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund

For further information please contact:

Atelerix Ltd
Sanj Kumar
Tel: +44 (0)191 580 6181 / +44 (0)7860 892944
Email: sanj.kumar@atelerix.co.uk

About the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S)

UKI2S is a national seed investment fund that helps the UK to build innovative businesses, leverage private investment and grow jobs. UKI2S achieves this by nurturing new businesses arising from the great science undertaken in the UK; providing the patient, long-term committed capital and strategic advice these companies need. UKI2S is usually a founder investor and often the sole investor in the very earliest stages. Over the past decade and more UKI2S has built a substantial track record with 57 portfolio companies created – with only £15m of capital from UKI2S – that between them have attracted over £500m of later stage investment and now have a combined market value of over £750m. UKI2S works closely with its partners – led by STFC, BBSRC and NERC, which are all part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and Dstl – and is aligned with the Catapults and Innovate UK to create the best environment for innovation to flourish and in turn, boost the UK’s competitiveness and productivity by commercialising key technological advances in industrial biotech, ag tech, healthcare, medicine, clean energy, materials, artificial intelligence, software and space. UKI2S is independently managed by specialist venture capital firm Midven www.midven.co.uk

For more information, please visit www.ukinnovationscienceseedfund.co.uk

Atelerix Strengthens Its Leadership Team
Steve Docksey Joining as Executive Chair and Ed Wagena as Chief Operating Officer

June 25th 2020 — Cambridge and Newcastle, UK – Atelerix, pioneers in the storage and transport of cells at room temperature, announced today that it has significantly strengthened its leadership team with two experienced industry executives, who will help lead Atelerix in implementing its strategy to provide room temperature solutions for the shipping of therapeutic cells in the fast growing cellular therapy market.

As Executive Chair, Steve Docksey, will be setting strategic direction through Atelerix’s Board, as well as having executive and operational responsibilities in working closely with Atelerix’s CEO and leadership team to guide the company’s continued growth and development. Steve brings extensive experience in company leadership and therapeutics bioprocessing. He holds senior executive and advisory positions across a portfolio of companies, focused on innovative technologies for the manufacturing of advanced cell-based therapeutics.

Ed Wagena brings extensive GMP experience in the cell therapy sector and in clinical development in general, and will be responsible for leading the day to day running of Atelerix’s operations, ensuring the implementation of a state-of-the-art and accredited manufacturing and R&D facility in our Newcastle upon Tyne facility. Ed is an experienced hands-on senior executive,  with more than 20 years of experience in drug development.  Since 2008, Ed specialised in the development of ATMPs and orphan drugs, and has designed and managed the European and North-American regulatory strategy and development program for several innovative therapies, including late-stage (pivotal) clinical trials.

Mick McLean, CEO for Atelerix commented “We are delighted to welcome Steve and Ed to expand the experience and capabilities of the Atelerix team as we accelerate the growth and breadth of activity of the business. It is a clear signal of our intent to deliver new enabling capabilities to cell scientists and cell therapy developers and manufacturers in their mission to make these life-saving new treatments available to as many patients as possible.”

About Atelerix Ltd

Atelerix is a UK-based company whose patented technology is transforming the storage and transport of human cells by enabling extended storage at temperatures between 4°C and 25°C while preserving their functional viability. The company’s customers are developing cell-based therapeutics, cell lines, organoids and assays for use in drug discovery and development. Atelerix products eliminate the need for complex cryoshipping logistics and potentially harmful freeze-thaw processes, providing greater flexibility, convenience and security as critical samples are shipped around the world

For more information, please visit www.atelerix.co.uk  or contact Mick McLean, CEO for Atelerix Ltd, directly via mick.mclean@atelerix.co.uk

This press release can be downloaded here

We are delighted to announce our partnering with key distributors in Asia: Cosmo Bio, Biogenuix and XP Biomed

Atelerix announce the signing of distributor agreements with three established and renowned distributors in Asia, and who are now responsible for serving Atelerix’s customers in Japan, India and China.  All three companies embody Atelerix’s core principles of providing innovative life science products, with outstanding customer support.

“Atelerix’s unique hydrogel, used for the encapsulation of biological material, has many applications within a large customer base, so working with these partners ensures that we can support our customers locally and with a high degree of technical support” said Sanj Kumar, CBO of Atelerix.  “We are delighted that they agreed to partner with us, and look forward to a long and productive working relationship.”

In their own words:

Cosmo Bio

Cosmo Bio provides the most up-to-date products and technical information available from world-class manufacturers, to laboratories, research institutes, life-science education and testing organizations throughout Japan and around the world.

Please visit our distributor page for more information.

Biogenuix

Biogenuix was founded in 2004, as a Lifescience and Clinical Diagnostics company
based out of New Delhi, and has been working with leading MNC’s as well as with 

smaller technology focused companies, providing a professionally managed national distribution channel in India that offers full market access, highest level of customer support and reliable logistics for perishable & regulated products across the
Indian region. Biogenuix operates in the following markets:

– Clinical Diagnostics
– Lifesciences Research
– Biobanking & Regenerative Medicine
– Bioprocessing & Quality Management

Please visit our distributor page for more information.

XP Biomed

XP Biomed was established in 2005 and located in Shanghai, China. Their mission is to introduce new brands and products, with a special emphasis on Cell Therapy, 3D culture and Exosome studies into China market. Our distribution network covers 80% of the geographical area.

Please visit our distributor page for more information.

Atelerix awarded the US patent to transport cells in hydrogels

Today Atelerix received an Issue Notification from the US Patent and Trade Mark Office, notifying us of the awarding of the patent pertaining to the TRANSPORT OF CELLS IN HYDROGELS.  The award of this patent means that the United States of America is now added to the growing list of countries subject to Atelerix owned intellectual property, that encompasses it’s leading technology on the uses of hydrogels for the shipping and storage of cells and biological tissues at hypothermic temperatures.

Extending the shelf life of COVID-19 test kits

Testing for COVID-19 in the UK, and indeed globally, is a huge task and more testing will be needed to both monitor and control the spread of the disease.  However, a severe limitation of swab samples which collect infected cells from the upper respiratory tract is their short shelf life of only 48-72 hours at 2-8°C. Cells are fragile and unable to survive outside their normal environment, limiting the amount of time they can be tested to detect the virus. Expired samples can no longer be used for reliable diagnostic purposes, and would lead to patients needing to be re-tested.

This award recognises the potential for using Atelerix’s unique and innovative hydrogel technology within current swab kits to encapsulate the cellular material, protecting it from mechanical stress and stabilising it at room temperature. The project will use this technology to design a novel and innovative storage kit to preserve swab samples at room temperature to extend the viability of testing samples way beyond 72 hours (up to two weeks). This not only has immediate implications in the current global efforts in diagnosing coronavirus, but could be a monumental step to stabilising swab samples used to detect a plethora of diseases and conditions

“We are thrilled that the UK government has recognised the potential of our technology to be used in the fight against COVID-19” said Mick McLean, CEO of Atelerix. “Extending the shelf life of viral swab samples contributes to the government’s goal of increasing daily testing for COVID-19 by allowing more patient samples to be collected so they can be safely stored for longer, or transported further afield to centralised testing facilities. The aim is to reduce the inherent unreliability in current testing as the fragile cells are protected from degradation by Atelerix’s hydrogel.”

Atelerix’s “Ready” range of products, are widely used for the storage and transport of human cells and tissues at room temperature, removing the need the potential for cell degradation or damage of fragile biological material.  Atelerix sells its products and services to customers in the cell therapy sector, as well as those developing cells, bio-printing cellular structures, manufacturing organoids and building cellular assays for use in research and drug discovery.   This Innovate UK award as part of the UK’s Industrial Strategy initiative equips Atelerix to now help optimise global disease testing for COVID-19, and in the future could be applied to other disease diagnostic kits.

Click here to read the government’s press release 

Atelerix raises further funding to develop cell and gene therapy applications. 

14th May 2020 — Cambridge and Newcastle, UK – Atelerix, inventors and owners of the innovative cell encapsulation technology, incorporated within the widely used the “Ready” product range, today announced it has closed a third round of funding of £600,000 to build additional capability to capitalise upon the unique set of features of its technology, which are eminently applicable to the transport of therapeutic cells in the fast growing cell therapy market.

Atelerix’s products are used for the storage and transport of human cells and tissues at room temperature, removing the need for cryo-preservation and the potential for cell degradation or damage, caused by freeze-thawing fragile biological material.  Atelerix sells its products and services to customers in the cell therapy sector, as well as those developing cells, bio-printing cellular structures, manufacturing organoids and building cellular assays for use in research and drug discovery development.

Previous funding rounds allowed the company to validate its technology, develop easy-to-use product formats for use with different cells and tissues and launch products onto the market. The follow-on investment announced today will be used to grow the team and build a quality-focused production infrastructure, positioning Atelerix to capitalise on the exciting opportunities in the cell therapy sector where delivery of viable cells to the patient remains a significant logistical challenge.

Atelerix CEO, Dr Mick McLean, commented “We’re delighted with the success of this over-subscribed funding round.  I’m particularly pleased that our existing investors chose to reinvest in this round and once again support the company’s ambitions.  We’ve witnessed a lot of excitement for our products and technology since we launched two years ago and this latest investment will allow us to accelerate the growth of the business and enter the cellular therapy market with a Quality-focused product and service offering.”

The new investment round was led by existing investors Oxford Technology Management, Newable Private Investing and UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S) with existing angel investors also joining the round. Rita Dhut of Newable, who joined the board of Atelerix as an Observer after this round, says “Atelerix’s products, despite being at an early stage, have shown very promising results when applied to the task of transporting cell therapies at room temperature. Our fund’s investment, ensures that investment may be made, so that the CellReady™ technology may be applied to applications in cell-based therapy.”.  Hitesh Thakrar of Newable and a partner at Syncona, said “we are particularly excited about the potential for the CellReady™ product range to reduce cellular therapy logistic costs, while ensuring viability of shipped product.”  Andrea Mica of Oxford Technology Management says ‘As one of the founding investors, OTM is delighted to see Atelerix continue to grow and launch new products, especially into the large cell-based therapy market.”.

Mick McLean, CEO for Atelerix Ltd, can be contacted directly via mick.mclean@atelerix.co.uk.

Download the press release here: Atelerix raises further funding 14 May 2020

A case study following the adoption of BeadReady™ for the room temperature shipment of cell therapies in India

by Steve Swioklo, Senior Scientist and Co-founder

It was the 20th April 2017 when I first visited Hyderabad, to attend a workshop hosted by the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI). This was an initiative supported by the British Council and Royal Society for Chemistry aimed at finding novel solutions to confront problems associated with sight loss following damage to the cornea, the transparent window at the front of the eye. I was soon introduced to the magnitude of the problem in India, with 5 to 6 million people suffering from blindness in one eye, and 1.2 million people with both eyes affected. Sadly, this incidence is still growing with up to 30,000 new cases being added every year and a large number of these being children less than 6 years of age. Prompt and proper treatment of corneal damage is necessary to prevent blindness. This is a major aim of the LVPEI, the largest eye care network in India. It is a not-for profit eye care institution committed to delivering high-quality treatment and care for patients, embracing all socio-economic backgrounds. Their motto is “So that all may see” and in evidence of this, they have treated 24 million people over the last 30 years, with more than half of the service provided free of charge.

Shelf life of 6-8 hours

On my second day there, Dr Vivek Singh from LVPEI presented some really exciting clinical trial data that described the use of stem/stromal cells that are taken from cadaveric corneas, cultured in a cGMP facility, and implanted back into the eyes of patients with corneal damage. The trial, based on years of multinational research, represented a potential solution to prevent or reverse corneal scarring and subsequent sight loss. This opportunity came with a problem. Once the cells were ready for implantation, they only had a shelf life of 6-8 hours. This allowed the treatment to be available at their centre of excellence, where it is manufactured, but impeded its accessibility to those patients in remote rural areas that needed it the most. Either: (i) the cells had to be transported to clinics in these remote areas, or (ii) the patients would have to travel to their main centre in Hyderabad. With a shelf life of hours, the first of these options would not be possible. They could freeze the cells and transport them frozen, but the complex costly infrastructure for cryologistics is not feasible and the cell viability and function of cells post-thaw would likely be compromised. The second of these options was also not possible. It is often the poorest of people that need to access the therapy and they simply can’t get themselves to Hyderabad for treatment; where speed of treatment maximises the therapeutic outcome, this had major disadvantages. In order to maximise accessibility “So that all may see” the shelf life of the fresh product needed extending.

Opportune meeting

This is where we came in. I was attending the workshop as a post-doc with my PI Prof. Che Connon. A major part of my research was focussed on the development of an alginate hydrogel-based technology that preserved cells at room temperature to allow their storage and shipment for multiple applications. At the time, we were in the process of translating this University-born research into a commercial opportunity and were in the process of starting a company with myself, Che and Dr. Mick McLean. Atelerix, was incorporated less than 2 months after this opportune meeting in Hyderabad. Discussions continued after our return to the U.K. and we developed a plan. The prospects seemed exciting!

15-fold extension to shelf life

By January 2018, I was back in Hyderabad. The visit, supported by the Department for International Trade, aimed to evaluate the capacity for our technology to preserve LVPEI’s therapeutic cells at room temperature using a simple process of cell encapsulation that we now call BeadReady™. I worked in the cGMP manufacturing facility to conduct this process, accompanied by Mukesh Damala from the LVPEI. Everything went to plan and the cells were placed into storage. We then had to wait for 3 days before the first time-point for cell recovery. This day arrived and within minutes gels were dissolved, cells were recovered and ready to count. These cells that previously had a shelf life of hours were now recovered with high viability, yield and function after days! Similar results were seen after 5 days of storage, a 15-fold extension to shelf life. It was clear how much impact this technology could have and the simplicity of the process demonstrated how easily it could be adapted to clinical use.

Extreme Indian Summer temperatures

In a way, that was the easy bit done. These were the results that we expected to see! Next we had to test whether cells remained alive when transported through the busy roads of Hyderabad in extreme Indian Summer temperatures. Over the course of months, cells were repeatedly encapsulated by Mukesh, packed into shipping boxes and driven around India. Ambient temperatures reached up to 38 degrees Celsius, but the cells still survived! The potential to now use BeadReady™ to stabilise this new cell-based therapy with maximal accessibility and reach was now reality. In November 2019, this work was published as an article in Scientific Reports and BeadReady™ is expected to enter clinical trials later this year.

 

November 18th 2019 — Cambridge and Newcastle, UK – Atelerix, pioneers in the storage and transport of cells at room temperature, announced today that it has significantly expanded and strengthened the commercialisation of its innovative product range by hiring industry expert Sanj Kumar as its Chief Business Officer.

Sanj is a highly accomplished life science executive and sales and marketing leader, and also brings extensive international experience. Perhaps best known for setting up Axol Bioscience’s entire commercial operation and establishing DiscoveRx’s European business, his most recent roles were as Commercial Manager for Cell Guidance Systems and General Manager for ELRIG.
Mick McLean, CEO for Atelerix commented “We are delighted to welcome Sanj to join the Atelerix team at this pivotal time for the commercialisation of our technology and products. We’re reaching out across the world, and Sanj’s experience in building international commercial operations from scratch is crucial for our success.”

Atelerix’s patented technology enables the storage and transport of human cells at temperatures between 4°C and 25°C, preserving and extending their functional viability from days to weeks. The technology encapsulates cells in a natural hydrogel for safe shipment and storage. The cells can be recovered when needed by the addition of a gentle, cell-friendly buffer. Atelerix sells its products and services to customers in the cell therapy sector, as well as those developing cells, organoids and assays for use in drug discovery and development.

Sanj Kumar, the newly appointed Chief Business Officer for the company said “I am excited and thrilled to join Atelerix. Having supplied cell-based products to the global life science community for over twenty years, I understand the need for the paradigm change that is represented by Atelerix’s encapsulation technology. The ability to ship biological material at room temperature is revolutionary and I am eager to apply my commercial experience to help Atelerix grow!“.