Celebrating Discovery Week at RoukenBio

The last week of May marks RoukenBio’s Discovery Week! This is the third year we’ve commemorated the opening of our Discovery Centre. It's also a chance for us to recognise our achievements as a team and in the wider industry.

The Discovery Centre’s expansion: Shiny new labs and vibrant office space

RoukenBio is growing, literally! Following our multi-million-pound investment from NorthEdge, we’re expanding our state-of-the-art facilities. The 560 square meter development will allow for bigger lab space as well as a contemporary office. 

From a spark of an idea to a groundbreaking innovation: The reception of IndEx-2

2023 saw the launch of our trademark technology, IndEx-2. This has proven to be an incredible tool in drug discovery and has been well-received by our clients and the wider industry.

"When we conceived of IndEx-2, it was to create a solution for the modelling of on target, off tumour effects in vitro. This was a real world challenge that I had first hand experience of in CAR-T cell therapy development. 

We have been enthused by the response of antibody-targeted developers to IndEx-2. We knew that IndEx-2 would have broad utility, and the feedback from the industry provides further validation that we are tackling the problems that matter."

Dr Adele Hannigan, Chief Business Officer. 

The rapidly customisable in vitro cell line platform can determine antigen density activation thresholds of targeted candidate immunotherapies. More importantly, it does so in a cost-effective manner early in the drug development process. 

The technology can be applied to an array of antibody-targeted therapies; CAR-engineered cell therapies, bispecific antibodies, multispecifics, immune cell engagers, monoclonal antibodies, ADCs and more. 

While the number of antibody-targeted I-O therapeutics in development is growing, there is a lack of in vitro systems to test their safety and efficacy. IndEx-2 addresses this challenge. Notably, we are the only service provider with IndEx-2 technology.

Shining like a star: Events, partnerships, and awards

This year, RoukenBio has gone global. We’ve attended more than 13 conferences, from Boston to Basel. Conferences allow us to connect with fellow thought-leaders in the immunology space, as well as showcase our research capabilities.

We also enjoyed attending the Scottish Life Science Awards dinner (see above), as finalists in the Business Leadership category. 

Along with Agilent Technologies, our CSO Dr Agapitos Patakas (below) won SelectScience’s Webinar of the Year Award for his presentation of our in vitro T cell exhaustion model. 

We expanded our capabilities into the third dimension with our ScreenIn3D Strategic Partnership, as well as took practical steps towards inclusivity by partnering with Black Professionals Scotland.

It’s been a remarkable 12 months since our last Discovery Week and looking back at all these achievements we couldn’t be happier. It’s rewarding to help our clients’ potentially life-saving therapies get closer to patients. 

Cheers to Discovery Week and to many more years of success ahead!