To gain control of bioprocessing on the fly, scientists need fast access to data. That’s just what Synthace—headquartered in London and Boston—provides, according to Markus Gershater, PhD, chief scientific officer, who adds that “Our roots are in bioprocessing.”
Collecting the vast amounts of data that bioprocessing creates, however, is easier said than done.
“We could run the Ambr250 bioreactor in a matter of one or two weeks, which is fantastic, fantastic turnaround for huge amounts of data,” continues Gershater, “but then we found that it could easily take three to four weeks to bring all that data together.”
To tackle this, Synthace built software that collects the data in the cloud in minutes. “When the data is all in the cloud, anyone can have secure access to it at any time,” Gershater explains. “This kind of collaborative aspect is really important, because you get more rapid insights and you can actually work on things together as a team.”
As an example, Gershater talks about Wheeler Labs, an Oklahoma-based company that provides diagnostic testing services. “They are looking at our cloud-based platform as a way of bringing their clients into the science as well,” Gershater says. “They get a much more collaborative experience: agreeing on experiments that they might run, tracking their progress, seeing the data that’s produced. It’s a very different experience to what’s come before.”
Gershater is passionate about the possibilities that his company can spark. As he puts it: “The idea of making these data that much more accessible across different collaborative scientists and engineers—whether they reside in the same company or a separate company—is fascinating.”
The speed of combining data will continue at Synthace. “We improved from three weeks to get all your data together to just a few minutes,” Gershater says. “In the future, we’ll be moving to real-time data synthesis of everything that’s going on within the bioreactor. That means you’re moving to a much more dynamic system that can see what’s happening at any given time, and ultimately predict what’s going to happen in the future as well.”
