Company Announcements

Penn State announced in April a collaborative partnership with Sartorius Stedim Biotech to advance multidisciplinary teaching and research in biotechnology. Part of Sartorius’ investment will be to enhance the Fermentation Facility that will play a significant role in Penn State’s Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology. Sartorius will provide state-of-the-art fermentation technologies, and a central laboratory within the Fermentation Facility will be named the Sartorius Fermentation Gallery.

In September, Sartorius Stedim Biotech entered into a collaboration agreement to integrate Repligen’s XCell ATF cell retention control technology into its BIOSTAT STR large-scale single-use bioreactors to create novel perfusion-enabled systems. This enables a single control system for 50–2,000 L bioreactors used in perfusion cell culture applications. The companies will further collaborate to equip Sartorius’ ambr 250ht perfusion single-use mini bioreactor system with Repligen’s KrosFlo hollow fiber filter technology. The bioreactor system will be sold by Sartorius as a complete single-use assembly.

Pall announced in September a strategic partnership with Celltheon, a cell line and expression technology platform development company, involving Celltheon’s SMART Expression Platform.

In September, Pall Biotech entered into a strategic partnership with Aetos Biologics, a biosimilar cell line development company.

In September, Pall entered into a collaboration with G-CON Manufacturing, a provider of prefabricated, prequalified cleanroom solutions. The companies will supply turnkey continuous bioprocess or viral vector production facility solutions, including mobile, prefabricated cleanroom units.

In October, Pall progressed a strategic partnership with the University College London (UCL) Biochemical Engineering department with the creation of the UCL-Pall Biotech Centre of Excellence (CoE) for research and training. The CoE will be operational from September 2018 through 2024.  The investment in the UCL Biochemical Engineering’s industrial research collaboration program with Pall Biotech is valued at $3.5 million (£2.7 million).

In September, EBERS, a maker of bioreactors and sensors, named AR Brown as a distributor for Japan.

Genedata announced in October the out-of- the-box integration of the Genedata Bioprocess platform with Sartorius’ ambr mini-bioreactor systems.

Merck officially opened in October its M Lab Collaboration Center in Brazil, serving the Latin America region. One of nine centers, the 10,764 ft² (1,000 m²) lab facility includes non-GMP pilot and bench-scale labs. Each year, more than 1,500 customers visit Merck’s M Lab Collaboration Centers.

In October, Aglaris, maker of a platform cell expansion technology, appointed Steven Docksey as CEO. Most recently he was adviser and non­executive director at Puridify.