Skroot Laboratory, Inc. Joins Cell Manufacturing Research Initiative to Further Advance Cell Therapy Discovery

AMES, Iowa, Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Skroot Laboratory, Inc. has joined the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Cell Manufacturing Technologies (CMaT). CMaT is a consortium of universities, companies, and clinical collaborators brought together to develop transformative tools and technologies for the consistent, scalable and low-cost production of high-quality living therapeutic cells. The center, launched in 2017 with a $20 million investment from NSF, aims to revolutionize the treatment of cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases and other disorders by enabling broad use of potentially curative therapies that utilize living cells ? such as immune cells and stem cells ? as "drugs." 

"We could not imagine a more impactful organization to be a part of in advancing biomanufacturing processes for the world than that of CMaT.  Director Krishnendu Roy, the team at CMaT, and their academic research and industry partners are all world renowned and completely aligned with our mission to improve outcomes by enabling scalable, affordable, continuous manufacturing processes for biotherapies," said Nigel Reuel, Ph.D., President, Skroot Laboratory, Inc.

Skroot Laboratory, Inc., is a seed stage biotechnology company providing wireless process analytical technologies (PAT) for cell and protein therapy development, especially suited for upstream design campaigns. Skroot has developed and deployed passive, non-invasive sensor technology that can continually quantify cell concentration, foaming, and temperature in upstream flasks, bioreactors, and static cell and gene therapy reactors?from outside of the vessel without contacting the culture solution and without manual intervention or manipulation. The Skroot platform is sterile, continuous, and eliminates the need for manual sampling, making real-time cell density measurement a trivial matter. The platform also enables alignment with continuous manufacturing practices and FDA Industry Guidance for PAT in upstream processes.

To facilitate the widespread application of these cutting-edge emerging treatments, CMaT will develop robust and scalable technologies, innovative analytical tools, and engineering systems that will enable industry and clinical facilities to reproducibly manufacture efficient, safe and affordable cell-therapy products. The center will also develop improved models for a robust supply chain, storage and distribution system for these therapeutic cell products.

In addition to the consistent manufacture of cell-based therapies, the CMaT initiative will also help develop a skilled, diverse and inclusive bio-manufacturing workforce through extensive education and training activities at the K-12, technical college, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels.

"We are pleased to welcome Skroot to this new initiative," said Krishnendu Roy, director of CMaT and the Robert A. Milton chair professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. "The center will develop the technologies needed to use living cells in standardized therapies by clinicians to serve large numbers of patients worldwide. We are very excited about what this will mean to the world. Skroot's technology and scientific capabilities, as with that of all our industry partners, will advance this realization tremendously."

Beyond Georgia Tech, CMaT includes major university partners ? the University of Georgia, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Puerto Rico, and Mayaguez Campus ? as well as affiliate partners such as the University of Pennsylvania, Emory University, the Gladstone Institutes, and University of Oregon. Additional international academic partners from Canada, Ireland, and Japan, as well as industry and the U.S. national laboratories, are critical collaborators in the effort.

Media Contact: John Casko
                           VP of Business Development
                           Skroot Laboratory, Inc.
                           2501 N. Loop Drive, Suite 1000
                           Ames, Iowa  50010
Phone:               319-331-1995
Email:                [email protected]

About Skroot Laboratory, Inc.
Skroot Laboratory, Inc., is a seed stage biotechnology company providing wireless process analytical technologies (PAT) for cell and protein therapy development, especially suited for upstream design campaigns. 

SOURCE Skroot Laboratory