Sterilisation and cytotoxicity of 3D printed cell scaffolds
Copner Biotech is a Welsh biotech start up who's state of the art design and manufacturing process enables 3D cell culture scaffolds to be produced based on concentric shape constructs, such as circles.
This provides a consistent variability of pore size (heterogenous pore size and distribution) emanating from the centre to the periphery of scaffold.
Traditionally, mammalian cells are grown in a two-dimensional environment, such as petri dishes, but this is not without its setbacks, namely the forced polarity that cells undergo due to the nature of the culture environment.
3D grown cells exhibit more physiologically relevant characteristics
Copner Biotech sought ‘wet lab’ and academic support in the form of sterilisation and cellular toxicity testing. Prior to this collaboration, the company could manufacture scaffolds but did not have the ability to perform the testing required.
This collaboration has led to the generation of an in vitro data set relating both the appropriate choice of sterilisation method and toxicity profile of the scaffolds. This data set can be used for publication or a pilot data to support a grant application leading to continued collaboration between Copner Biotech and Swansea University.
The data generated is favourable which will enable Copner Biotech to move on to the next phase of their development pipeline.
Jordan Copner, CEO
"The support from Accelerate has been invaluable, especially to a company that started in a global pandemic."
Obviously funds were incredibly limited so to have a partner with such expertise, particularly cell culture has been incredible.
The Accelerate programe has helped us to validate our scaffolds in a biological setting. They have conducted multiple cell experiments including scanning electron microscopy and cellular assays. These two together gives Copner Biotech a plethora of data to move forward for commercialisation.
