Development of an Automated Platform for the Production of Muscle Cells

Tissue engineering involves extracting cells from patients, growing them in a laboratory setting, and subsequently employing them for disease treatment . However, cell expansion encounters various obstacles, such as significant expenses and labor requirements, resulting in increased treatment costs. Moreover, the industry struggles with challenges such as skilled personnel shortages and difficulties in scaling up the manufacturing process. Octane has developed a groundbreaking automation technology platform that facilitates the automated production of cell therapies. This innovation not only reduces production costs but also minimizes operator time, facility footprint, and enhances product consistency by eliminating operator variability. There is currently no other automation platform on the market that can automate a complex cell culture process from start to finish. Octane’s automation platform is clinically employed for manufacturing cells utilized in immunotherapy treatments, and is currently in the late development stage for cartilage cell manufacturing used for treatment of cartilage lesions in the knee. The objective of the present project is to expand Octane’s portfolio by leveraging its automation platform to produce muscle cells used in muscle regeneration therapies. The intern will perform a feasibility study to translate a manual cell culture process using muscle cells to Octane’s automated platform.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mohsen Akbari

Student:

Partner:

Octane Orthobiologics Inc;Stem Cell Network

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program: