Selecting the right cells is crucial for effective cell therapy development. TTP’s novel technology creates a microfluidic vortex to select cell populations with higher purity and yield than traditional methods, changing the status quo to reduce cost, complexity, and improve accessibility of technologies.
Context
Cell therapies have evolved over the past 30 years to be faster, more effective and more reliable. Yet cell-selection technologies lag behind and do not adequately support the development of modern therapies.
Solution
Through combining innovative thinking, expertise in cell biology, and pragmatic engineering, TTP invented a new technology with the capability to sort 43,000 cells per second. By using a microfluidic vortex to move a cell, this technique meets the needs of developers of advanced cell therapies.
Result
This revolutionary new system for sorting cells provides both a closed environment for sterility and greater ease of use, allowing the selection process to align much more closely with recent advancements in cell therapies. This new technology is now being commercialised by Cellular Highways, and trials with first customers will begin shortly.
Cellular Highways: how we modernised cell sorting
Selecting the right cells is vital to effective and reliable cell therapies, yet the cell-selection methods being used today are outdated and have not kept up with progress elsewhere in the field.
By selecting the right cell population, one with improved purity and yield, the overall process is greatly improved, enabling cell therapies to be more therapeutically effective.
We created a transformative technology for cell selection, whereby a microfluidic sorting process is used to provide a 43,000 cell-per-second sort rate. Our idea drew inspiration from bubble jet printers. By identifying that the creation of a bubble was technically possible but insufficient to move a cell, we coupled this technique with the creation of a vortex. These two elements, when used in tandem, were able to efficiently and reliably move and select cells, providing a user-friendly method alongside a higher purity environment.
Starting with a blank page and drawing ideas from outside of the cell therapy industry, we utilised our team’s broad knowledge and expertise to create an entirely new system.
As customer trials begin, we are excited to see how this new, bespoke technology will enable the next generation of cell and gene therapies, and ultimately improve outcomes for patients.
TTP has deep experience in life science instrumentation. Our vision for Cellular Highways drew on TTP’s capabilities in realising complex products, involving integrated mechanical, electrical, optical and fluidic systems.
Salman Samson Rogers
Co-Founder and CTO Cellular Highways Ltd
