Innovations at CellGro Technologies LLC Advancing Medical Research, Treatments
A Lincoln company co-founded by a University of Nebraska professor is engineering a new technology that enables medical researchers to grow a multitude of cells in a small environment in the hopes of advancing discoveries and treatments for a wide array of diseases and conditions.
- published: 2023/06/07
- contact: NBDC Communications - Nebraska Business Development Center
- phone: 402.554.6256
- email: kjefferson@unomaha.edu
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Omaha, Nebraska – A Lincoln company co-founded by a University of Nebraska professor is engineering a new technology that enables medical researchers to grow a multitude of cells in a small environment in the hopes of advancing discoveries and treatments for a wide array of diseases and conditions.
CellGro Technologies LLC was founded in 2017 by Hendrik Viljoen, PhD, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), and Yuguo Lei, PhD, a former UNL professor now at Penn State University.
Dr. Viljoen says CellGro Technologies builds upon an idea originated in Japan to grow cells inside hollow tubes, much the same way an embryo grows within an amniotic sac. Within the protective environment of the tubes, the cells grow to high densities. The work at CellGro Technologies addresses the engineering challenges to manufacture cells and increase production 10 to 50 fold, he says.
Led by Dr. Viljoen and CellGro technologies Chief Engineer Jack Rauch, a UNL doctoral student, CellGro Technologies has engineered an extrusion technology to produce small tubes with cells, which are placed in bioreactors where the cells can be grown in much larger quantities while also being shielded from the stress of other methods.
Researchers discovered in 2006 that cells can be reprogrammed into stem cells and then differentiated into other cell types, opening the door to developing treatments for a variety of medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, certain cancers and other diseases. The new CellGro technology further enables researchers to reprogram cells to fit precise uses and needs such as cell therapies personalized to specific patients.
For example, Dr. Viljoen explains, a skin cell from a particular patient can be placed into a bioreactor tube, converted to a stem cell and then changed into a retinal cell and injected into the patient’s eye to treat age-related macular degeneration. The patient’s body accepts that cell without an immune reaction because it originated as their own skin cell, he says.
Rauch says the company is developing bioreactors of four different scales: a 50 ml micro reactor that will enable the growth of up to 10 billion cells; a mini reactor about the size of a soda can that can accommodate the growth of 20 billion cells; a 1 liter “midi” reactor to accommodate from 50 billion to 200 billion cells; and a large, 10 liter reactor that could grow more than one trillion cells. “The National Science Foundation has invited us to submit a proposal for the large reactor,” he says. “There is none like it in the world today.”
The new technology would allow hospitals and medical research facilities to increase their cell production capacity more economically than current methods while greatly expanding research and treatments, Dr. Viljoen says. “This is an important advancement for all cell therapy companies,” he says.
The company has relied upon the guidance of the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) and its Innovation and Technology Program, directed by Josh Nichol-Caddy. He and Innovation Consultant Kayla Lacey helped CellGro Technologies submit its application in April for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Phase II grant for the development of the 1 liter “midi” bioreactor.
“CellGro is an incredible example of a company solving an industry problem, addressing a bottleneck that will allow downstream applications as yet unimagined,” Nichol-Caddy says. “This company exemplifies how university research can enter the marketplace and disrupt existing business models.”
Dr. Viljoen says the NBDC has been “extremely helpful shoring up the business side for us.”
He says the company’s Small Business and Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant from the NIH was completed in 2021. “We became eligible to apply for a Phase II grant, but we had to write a commercialization plan. Out of the blue, we received an email from Josh asking if he and the NBDC innovation program could help us in any way. It was precisely what we needed.
“The NBDC and its programs do a fantastic service for the state.”