Last month, Atelerix hosted its first-ever customer showcase event at Hauxton House, bringing together partners and collaborators to share how they are overcoming biosample shipping and preservation challenges in an increasingly global life sciences landscape. Hosted by o2h Discovery in Cambridge, the afternoon featured a series of short, insightful presentations from ImmuONE, PixlBio, Labskin, Rodon Global, Cherry Biotech and o2h, in front of an audience spanning academia, biotech, CROs, investors and life science press. On a gloriously sunny Cambridge afternoon, the event opened with welcoming remarks from Atelerix Chair, Sunil Shah and CEO Alastair Carrington, who thanked attendees and set the tone for a collaborative and forward-looking session.
Moderated by Atelerix CSO Dr Steve Swioklo, the presentations began with Dr Simon Stockwell of o2h Discovery, who outlined the logistical realities of operating a globally distributed CRO. With biology teams split between the UK and India, o2h has historically faced significant cost and complexity when shipping live cells under cryogenic conditions. Traditional approaches, including maintaining duplicate cell banks and relying on dry ice shipments, proved inefficient and risky. The introduction of Atelerix’s ambient preservation technology marked a turning point. In a real-world stress test during extreme heatwave conditions, cells shipped over ten days and exposed to temperatures approaching 50°C arrived with no meaningful loss in viability and performed as expected in assays. This has enabled o2h to effectively “virtualise” their cell banks, improving flexibility while reducing cost and logistical burden.
Next up to the stage was ImmuONE‘s Dr. Rhamiya Mahendran, Commercial Lead at ImmuONE, who wanted to outline the challenges of shipping highly sensitive immune cell models, particularly alveolar macrophages, which are critical for early-stage lung toxicology studies but are notoriously difficult to transport due to their sensitivity to freezing and environmental stress. Traditional cryopreservation methods were shown to negatively impact cell viability, functionality, and key characteristics such as phagocytic activity, while extended ambient transit without protection also led to significant degradation. Through collaboration with Atelerix, ImmuOne evaluated hydrogel-based ambient preservation and demonstrated that their proprietary macrophage model maintained viability and morphology after transport, outperforming other gel systems tested. This highlights the potential of ambient hydrogel solutions to provide a more reliable and practical alternative for shipping complex immune cells, supporting the delivery of high-quality, human-relevant data to clients globally.
Commercial Lead at ImmuONE
Next, Rodon Global Managing Director Steve Taylor provided a logistics perspective, highlighting the challenges of transporting biological samples, particularly in regions such as Africa where infrastructure and dry ice availability are limited. Initially sceptical, Rodon Global quickly recognised the potential of ambient preservation following independent validation in real-world conditions. By stabilising samples at source, they demonstrated that logistics no longer needs to be a race against time, reducing reliance on complex cold-chain solutions while improving consistency and sample quality. This shift reframes logistics from a workaround into a more robust, science-first solution.
PixlBio’s Dr Nikolaos Nikolaou followed, showcasing how their iPSC-derived hepatocyte platform is enabling more predictive and scalable liver models. Through collaboration with Atelerix, they addressed the limitations of cryopreservation, particularly long recovery times post-thaw. Their data showed that cells maintained morphology, viability and functionality after 72 to 96 hours of ambient storage, allowing delivery of ready-to-use cells without compromising performance. This approach has already been validated across multiple international studies, demonstrating how ambient logistics can accelerate workflows and improve usability for advanced cell models.
The penultimate presentation was delivered by Labskin’s Scientific Director, Dr Nicola Kingswell, who shared insights into their work with complex skin models and the importance of maintaining sample integrity across distributed research environments. Dr Kingswell discussed how Labskin demonstrated how their advanced 3D human skin model, designed to replicate both the structure and microbiome of real human skin, is enabling more predictive testing for cosmetics, personal care, and therapeutic applications. However, as a living, metabolically active system with a limited testing window, reliably shipping these models globally has been a persistent challenge, with traditional methods offering only short transit times before degradation occurs. Through collaboration with Atelerix, Labskin adopted an ambient hydrogel-based approach that significantly extended viable shipping time while preserving tissue integrity, structure, and microbiome compatibility. This was validated through both controlled studies and real-world shipments, including delayed deliveries, where the models remained functional and ready for use. The result is a more robust and scalable solution for distributing complex tissue models worldwide, giving Labskin greater confidence in global delivery and improving consistency for its customers.
Closing the session, Cherry Biotech’s Chief Business Officer, Pierre Gaudriault, explored the broader challenge of poor predictability in drug development, driven by limitations in traditional 2D and animal models. By developing advanced 3D organoid systems that better replicate human biology, Cherry Biotech is addressing this gap. However, scaling and distributing these complex models has remained a major hurdle. Through collaboration with Atelerix, they demonstrated that even highly sensitive organoid systems can be shipped at ambient conditions without compromising viability or function, enabling global access to more physiologically relevant models.
Overall, the event highlighted a shared challenge across CROs, biotechs and logistics providers, and a common solution in ambient biosample preservation. As Alastair Carrington reflected, “This seminar has been a real validation of what we set out to achieve at Atelerix. Hearing partners across CROs, logistics, and advanced model developers independently demonstrate that ambient preservation is removing long-standing barriers in biosample handling shows just how transformative this approach can be. What’s been most exciting is not just the performance, but the new ways of working it enables, faster collaboration, broader access, and ultimately better science reaching patients sooner.”
Dr Steve Swioklo added, “It was fantastic to see such strong attendance and, more importantly, genuine engagement from across the community. The discussions didn’t just stay on the stage, they carried on in the room, between sessions, and afterwards, which is always a sign that the topic really matters. Bringing together perspectives from biology, logistics, and technology created a really valuable dialogue around the future of cell-based workflows. Given the momentum and interest, we’re already planning to host another seminar before the end of the year to continue building on these conversations and showcase the next wave of progress.”
If you would like to learn more about any of the presentations, explore potential collaborations, or discuss how Atelerix can support your fresh biosample shipping and preservation needs, we would love to hear from you. Get in touch with the team to start the conversation.
