FACER (Fully Automated Cell Expansion Reactor) is a prototype that allows the replication of cells in a fully automated way and without risks of contamination. It will be on the market in mid-2018.
Photocopying cells as quickly and easily as you can photocopy a book. This is what the Aglaris Facer 1.0 will allow to do, the first machine in the world that achieves fully automated cell production. This project represents a definitive leap for science and research by allowing the standardized creation of cells and has been the result of 100% Spanish talent.
The idea has arisen from three Spanish scientists, Miquel Costa, David Horna and Manuel Ángel González, and has been able to become a reality thanks to the advice of Manuel Fuertes, general director of the Oxford University Innovation in Spain and thanks also to the financing of Kiatt, company through which Manuel Fuertes carries out scientific transfer operations, as well as CRB inverbio II, which financed the company starting in December 2015.
How it all started
The birth of FACER arises from a peculiar situation. David Horna, nowadays a Doctor in Chemical Engineering, was doing a fellowship in a laboratory under the supervision of Manuel Ángel González and as usually happens, part of his work was a really boring routine: cell multiplication. Nowadays, what is known as a ‘clean room’ is needed for cell multiplication, a laboratory in which one or more professionals have to manually manage a meticulous, slow process, and subject to many risks that can prevent the process from being successful or having to be repeated.
Horna worked to find a solution so that this routine work could be done automatically, quickly and without risks of contamination. His connection with Miquel Costa and a few years of research did the rest for what is now a prototype that several research centres are already testing.
But a third, no less important element was still missing: David, Miquel and Manuel already had the theory developed, but they needed help to materialize their research. Manuel Fuertes, general director of Oxford University Innovation and an expert in transferring scientific findings to society, turning them into products or services that benefit the population, played a fundamental role here. Manuel Fuertes was the person who saw the development possibilities of David, Miquel and Manuel’s research and decided in 2013 to advise on the business plan and finance the process of transferring the idea to the prototype.
This is how Aglaris Cell was born, the company of David, Miquel and Manuel that will be used for the production of the cellular bioreactor that will be on sale in mid-2018.
Later, in 2015, the Cross Road Biotech venture capital fund would join the Aglaris project, providing the necessary financial muscle for the new stage of validation, internationalisation, production and commercialization of the bioreactor.
A discovery “as important as the printing press”
Aglaris Facer will mean, for the world of research, something similar to what the invention of the printing press meant; It will be a catalyst for different areas of cell research that will grow exponentially from now on, according to Miquel Costa.
In the field of stem cell research, it will make it possible to streamline and improve the testing processes of different therapies because cells can be generated easily, quickly and of quality. Until now, the manual generation of cells greatly influenced the success of research since, if the cells used were not of sufficient quality, the result could also be affected. Thanks to FACER, this problem will not exist because researchers will have at their disposal a large number of cells with sufficient quality to avoid any interference in the results of the research. This possibility opens a door of opportunity for all research with cells that today is being developed, multiplying and speeding up its implementation, says Miquel Costa, who points to research centres and hospitals as the potential clients most interested in their innovation.
Five future users, comprising research centres, hospitals and cell production companies, have committed to testing the bioreactor, according to its creators.
For hospitals, the Aglaris Facer will allow the medical team to quickly and safely have cells available to treat diseases that until today have no cure. A machine that does not take up much more space than a traditional photocopier therefore replaces an entire laboratory and facilities worth no less than 1 million euros and a process full of complications.
This standardisation in the production of cells will also impact the generation of drugs adapted to the needs of each patient and each ailment quickly and without the high costs that are required right now.
Aglaris is currently producing five prototypes that will be made available to customers to adjust all aspects of improvement before starting mass production and putting it on the market in mid-2018. The sales price of Facer will be around 300,000 euros.
