Bit Bio Secures Distribution Agreement with Abcam to Democratize Access to Human Cells for Global Life Science Research

CAMBRIDGE, England, Feb. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Bit Bio announces agreement with Abcam, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, to make Bit Bio's iPSC derived functional human cells widely available to the global life science community. Over the course of the next two years this new partnership will provide an increasing range of highly defined, scalable and consistent human cells for research and high-throughput screening applications. The first product available are brain cells (ioNEURONS/glut^TM, glutamatergic neurons) serving the neuroscience community.

Access to human cells is a significant bottleneck in the field of medical research and drug development. Human cells differ from animal models, and therefore research using animal models often does not translate into clinical applications.

Bit Bio is commercializing opti-ox^TM, a precise reprogramming proprietary technology platform that enables uniquely efficient and consistent production of human cells for use in research, drug discovery, and cell therapy.

"Bit Bio's goal is to develop a scalable technology platform capable of producing consistent batches of every human cell type," said Bit Bio CEO Mark Kotter, a neurosurgeon at Cambridge University, and stem cell biologist. "This agreement will accelerate our mission of putting highly defined human cells in the hands of the researchers who need them to pursue their life-saving work."

"Supporting enhanced access to complementary technologies that have the potential to improve and accelerate research is part of our growth strategy," said John Baker, Senior Vice President Product Portfolio and Innovation at Abcam. "Our industry expertise, and co-location in major biotechnology hubs throughout the world, enables our partners to rapidly put their innovations into the hands of the global research community, helping advance the understanding of biology and cause of disease to enable new treatments and improved health outcomes."

Bit Bio's breakthrough technology has been successfully employed to reprogram stem cells into functional neurons on a scalable and consistent basis. The proprietary approach ensures batch to batch reproducibility and unprecedented purity compared to current technologies and yields fully differentiated neurons within days. The protocol is also universally applicable, from small-scale laboratory research projects to high throughput screens in pharmaceutical R&D laboratories.

Bit Bio's human-induced glutamatergic neurons are a highly defined and consistent human model for the study of neurological physiology and disease, including neurodegeneration, and are available from the Abcam website. 

"At Bit Bio we believe that world-wide access to our iPSC derived cells will drive human translational experiments and ultimately help to fuel the next generation of medicine," said Bit Bio Chief Business Officer Paul Morrill. "Abcam's reputation as a disruptive innovator in the field of biological reagents and dedicated global commercialization infrastructure make them the ideal partner. In line with our core value of democratizing access to human cells for research and drug development, our ioNEURONS/glut are offered at a highly competitive price point."

About Bit Bio

Bit Bio, the cell coding company, is based in Cambridge, UK. Bit Bio's team includes world leaders in stem cell biology, cellular reprogramming and cell therapy who are harnessing the power of synthetic biology to tackle the problem of inconsistency in the production of human cells. Bit Bio is developing opti-ox^TM, a proprietary technology platform capable of producing any human cell for research, drug discovery and cell therapy.

We are introducing ioNEURONS/glut^TM, human-induced glutamatergic neurons cells, providing a high-quality human model for research, drug development and high-throughput screening. ioNEURONS/glut cells have been reprogrammed from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) using a precise reprogramming technology. 

To find out more, please visit www.bit.bio

Bit Bio press contact: Dr Farah Patell-Socha, [email protected]

About Abcam
As a global life sciences company, Abcam identifies, develops, and distributes high-quality biological reagents and tools that are crucial to research, drug discovery and diagnostics. Working across the industry, the Company supports life scientists to achieve their mission, faster. Abcam partners with life science organisations to co-create novel binders for use in drug discovery, in vitro diagnostics and therapeutics, driven by the Company's proprietary discovery platforms and world-leading, antibody expertise.

By constantly innovating its binders and assays, Abcam is helping advance the global understanding of biology and causes of disease, which enables new treatments and improved health. The Company's pioneering data-sharing approach gives scientists increased confidence in their results by providing validation, user comments and peer-reviewed citations for its 110,000 products. With eleven sites globally, many of Abcam's 1,100 strong team are located in the world's leading life science research hubs, complementing a global network of services and support.

To find out more, please visit www.abcam.com and www.abcamplc.com.

Abcam press contact: Dr Lynne Trowbridge, [email protected]

SOURCE Bit Bio

Related Links

https://bit.bio