Molecular Biology and Cell Engineering

Drug development depends on the use of a wide variety of cell types, which are critical for evaluating the potential success of new therapeutics. These include primary cells from healthy individuals or patients, which can be used directly, expanded, differentiated, activated, or engineered based on experimental goals. Continuous cell lines have long been foundational to bioassay design, offering reliable and consistent performance over time. Like primary cells, these cell lines can be used in their native form or engineered to express or silence target proteins, signalling pathways, or include reporter constructs to meet specific study objectives.

Sourcing optimal cell types can be challenging due to ethical approvals, licensing requirements, and the availability of commercial lines with relevant targets. Given the complexity of new therapeutics and regulatory demands, obtaining high-performing cell lines is critical.

Through our partnerships, we access high-quality primary cells and tissues from both patients and healthy donors. We also maintain substantial stocks of well-characterised cells onsite, sourced from diverse donors. Our extensive collection of purified immune cells further strengthens our services, and we specialise in engineering complex cell lines and creating customized solutions to address your specific challenges.

Applications

• Target cells lines for effector function: our engineered target cell lines express both target and control antigens, often with luciferase reporters enabling real-time measurement of effector functions such as cytotoxicity and immune activation.
• Target cells lines for ADC characterisation: specialised cell lines for ADC characterisation focus on internalisation and cytotoxicity, providing insights into ADC efficacy and target cell death. 
• Reporter Assays: engineered cell lines with luciferase or fluorescent reporters enable real-time tracking of immune activation or target engagement, offering quantifiable insights into therapeutic mechanisms.
• Finely tuned inducible expression: our IndEx-2 system allows controlled expression of one or two antigens to precisely evaluate therapeutic activation thresholds and optimise safety and efficacy.
• Potency Assays: our engineered cell lines provide robust, consistent measures of biological activity for regulatory compliance.