The development of a bioreactor for automated cell cultivation will accelerate many scientific pieces of research. There are already several centres that want to test this prototype
A good idea, many prizes and not a penny was all that David Horna and Miquel Costa had. The year was 2011 and they had met a few months earlier, studying a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and Management at the Sarrià Chemical Institute (Barcelona). Both scientists and entrepreneurial minds, they decided they had enough in common to create something together.
The idea was initially cut short: for personal reasons, Horna had to move to Madrid. He began working at the National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC), under the direction of Manuel Ángel González de la Peña. As his work focused on cell therapies, growing cells in vitro (in the laboratory) was his daily bread.
In this routine he observed something that caught his attention: the process that scientists currently follow for cell cultivation has barely evolved. “Cells are still cultivated by hand, which today makes no sense: if aspirin can be manufactured automatically, it should be possible to do the same with cells“, he thought. He decided he had to invent something to achieve this. And then he called Costa, who saw the opportunity as clear as he did.
“We did an analysis of how the bioreactors used to cultivate cells were made and we saw that all the automation processes focused on small parts of the process, they did not do the complete culture,” explains Horna. There was a part that everyone resisted. “Cells grow on surfaces and there comes a time when they overflow and have to be moved to another,” adds the scientist.
Its objective is to make cell production cheaper and much faster
The Aglaris Facer 1.0 bioreactor automates the entire cell cultivation process from the extraction of the cells to be cultivated and resulting in their multiplication into billions of cells. “It’s like a Nespresso: you only need the machine and a capsule with the type of cells you want,” says Horna. In addition, he adds, it is completely closed and free of external contamination and does not require specific regulations to be used.
«It is a disruptive technology that completely changes the industry. “Scientists will be able to accelerate research, since there are major bottlenecks in cell production”, says Manuel Fuertes, the first investor who decided to bet on Aglaris. Their contribution – through Kiatt Group – and that of other public and private funds (in total, one million euros) allowed Horna and Costa to establish the company and begin working seriously on the first prototype of the bioreactor.
At that time, his invention only existed on paper. They had been shaping the final design for two years in their small laboratory in Madrid’s Science Park and without receiving a penny. What they did receive were several international awards that stimulated their project.
Once they had funds, the entrepreneurs invested all their money in establishing the company and making a good patent. In biotechnology, the processes are very long and developing a product until it reaches the market requires a lot of time, so they could not risk the multinational in power copying their idea and losing everything.
The key to the patent is how the bioreactor adds surface area as the cells expand. «This allows them to grow in the best possible conditions: neither too close together, nor too far apart. They are like us when we go to a nightclub: they don’t want to be alone, but they don’t want to be crowded either», Horna exemplifies. So, the machine has different compartments and when one is full, the cells move to the next one (bigger than the previous one). And so on.
These scientists compare their invention to the creation of the printing press
On the other hand, the crops they grow are not traditional. Instead of being flat, they are three-dimensional, so they occupy a much smaller volume, and this reduces the size of the bioreactor.
After several sessions with experts, Horna and Costa decided to go international. They got more funds and moved to England.
Now that the scientists have their first working prototype, the next step is to start testing it. They already have agreements to produce cells for hospitals, companies in the field of biotechnology and cell therapy and public entities such as the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies (IATA). “We are looking forward to testing the Aglaris bioreactor and we hope that it will save cultivation steps that previously had to be carried out in clean rooms, which were very expensive both from the point of view of personnel and processes”, says Roke Iñaki Oruezabal, director of Innovation and Development at IATA.
If all goes well, the Aglaris machine will facilitate faster, easier, cheaper and more standardized cell cultures (with a homogenised production of cells), “which is very important for therapeutic use because it eliminates the margin of error”, comments Oruezabal. However, it suggests Aglaris make a comparison between a cultivation in a conventional clean room, and one produced by its bioreactor to demonstrate its efficiency. According to his estimates, Horna points out that in a real case study with a company with which they collaborate, the system allows a 70% reduction of the cost in cell production.
These entrepreneurs compare the potential impact of their invention to the advent of the printing press. “The Benedictine monks wrote by hand and the dispersion of culture was very low until the printing press arrived and books spread. The same thing happens with this bioreactor: it will facilitate more and easier research, and more access to cell therapies, which will become cheaper and cheaper. This technology will change the rules of the game”, says Horna.
