The move to the 10,000ft2 facility has enabled Reinnervate to begin commercial production of its alvetex 3D cell culture technology in readiness for its official launch in Q4.
Ashley Cooper, chief executive of Reinnervate, said the company plans to recruit up to 30 new employees over the next 12 months in research, development production and sales and marketing to establish the use of alvetex for routine 3D cell culture in academic and industry laboratories around the world.
Reinnervate, a Durham University spin-out, has spent nearly eight years developing its alvetex technology based on research by its founding scientist, Professor Stefan Przyborski.
Alvetex is said to be a unique and proprietary scaffold that enables routine 3D cell culture in the lab, i.e. more akin to the way cells grow in tissues in the human body than conventional 2D cell culture technologies, where cells grow in flat sheets.
The company will begin commercial production of its alvetex 3D cell culture technology
Reinnervate says the use of alvetex-derived 3D cell cultures will provide greater insight into how cells behave in the body in response to external factors (such as drug candidates) than is currently possible with 2D technologies.
In July Reinnervate received a further £1.8m of equity investment from NorthStar Equity Investment and private investors to support the ongoing development and commercialisation of its alvetex platform. Commercialisation is now at an advanced stage and Reinnervate has begun discussions with major distributors of cell culture products in the UK and overseas to sell alvetex in a range of formats.
