Cytena, a provider of high-precision instruments for handling biological cells, has entered a collaboration agreement with ExcellGene SA, a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that manufactures recombinant proteins. Together, the companies will streamline cell line development workflows for highly-efficient monoclonal antibody (mAb) and complex therapeutic protein manufacturing which enables important improvements to the development workflows of the biopharmaceutical industry.

As part of the collaboration, ExcellGene is providing its high-performance CHOExpress system, a proven, high-yield mammalian host cell line for large-scale manufacturing of therapeutic proteins. Cytena will establish workflows on the new C.STATION—a next generation automated workstation for cell line development. First C.STATIONs will be installed at Cytena’s biopharmaceutical customers within the next months and delivering already improved workflows with the C.STATION will lead to an even higher demand for this fully automated solution in therapeutic protein manufacturing.

“I am thrilled to announce this exciting collaboration,” said Julian Riba, CEO, Cytena. “This will allow us to establish more efficient protocols for stable CHO cell line development (CLD) on our new platform. And it brings us one step further in our mission to make the production of biotherapeutic proteins faster, safer and more affordable.”

Fully automated CLD from cloning single cells to the selection of high-producing clones for upscaling, has long been a goal of CDMO’s like ExcellGene. Cytena now offers a next-generation CLD platform for reducing timelines, eliminating contamination and improving cell viability in all-in-one intuitive workstation.

Florian Wurm, chief science officer and co-founder of ExcellGene, said, “Having worked with several Cytena cell handling tools from the earliest days of their offerings, we were pleased to see innovative and well thought-through instrumentation, including a flow of innovative concepts aiming at addressing a major bottleneck in the development of biologics using cultivated animal cells: the proof of monoclonality.”