Rainbow Biosciences inked a letter of intent to acquire or form a joint venture with n3D Biosciences. Working in collaboration with the MD Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University, n3D has developed a process to enable cell culture in a 3-D environment that more closely mimics their growth in vivo.
The resulting Bio-Assembler™ platform uses magnetic levitation to lift cells off a flat surface. Magnetic Nanoshuttle nanoparticles are first delivered to the cells in their culture dish, and a magnetic drive placed on top of the closed dish, which causes the cells to levitate. n3D claims the system enables the rapid formation of 3-D structures and cell-cell interactions, is compatible with virtually any cell type (including primary and stem cells) and standard culturing protocols or diagnostic techniques, and enables 3-D co-culturing. The technique in addition gives scientists the capability to move and shape tissues for invasion studies and tissue engineering.
Rainbow Biosciences is a division of Rainbow Coral Corp, and has been set up to develop and market bioscience solutions for physicians, researchers, and pharmaceutical engineers. The firm’s headquarters were established in Houston, TX, in November.