Altrika is pleased to announce funding for two significant new projects in the fields of cell processing tools and high throughput polymer science. As announced by the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board on 5th December 2011, Altrika is heading up a consortium which has been awarded a £452k grant through the Regenerative Medicine Tools & Technologies competition.
The programme will develop a cell label capable of being used in vivo for cell therapy applications. In the first instance, it will be applied to Altrika’s Cryoskin® allogeneic keratinocyte treatment for burns, allowing clinicians to image cells which have been applied to a wound, providing instant feedback on consistency and likely efficacy of application. The consortium includes the University of Edinburgh, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry as the clinical partner, and Roslin Cellab which will be expanding the use of this label into other areas of cell therapy-based R&D.
Altrika is also pleased to announce that it has entered into a separate joint development project (JDP) with a world leading life sciences diagnostic equipment manufacturer. The contract is to demonstrate Altrika’s high throughput, polymer screening technologies for the identification and optimisation of the next generation of polymer filters, in return for stage payments.
Commenting on these announcements, Graeme Purdy, Chief Executive of Altrika, said: “This is the fifth award that Altrika has been successful in securing from the TSB in the last two years. This follow on commitment is testament to Altrika’s technical capabilities and confirms it as a company at the forefront of this exciting emerging technology. This is reinforced by the partnership with a world leading diagnostic equipment manufacturer that has chosen Altrika as a research and development partner.”
Zahid Latif, Head of Healthcare at the Technology Strategy Board, said: "When we launched this competition we invited business-led consortia to submit proposals that would address challenges in the development of cell-based therapies, leading to demonstrators with commercial applicability.We are delighted to support this Altrika-led consortium and look forward to seeing the results of their exciting work."