Cellino Biotech has received $25 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding will support Cellino’s Next-Generation Biomanufacturing Ultra-Scalable Approach (NEBULA) project, an initiative to develop cassette-based biomanufacturing technology for developing personalized regenerative medicines.
Cellino’s proprietary biomanufacturing technology automates traditionally manual artisanal processes using an AI-guided, laser-based cell management process that reduces variability and increases the consistency of biomanufactured cell and tissue products.
With ARPA-H’s support, the company will build a platform that can scale the production of induced pluripotent stem cells used to develop medicines for various chronic conditions associated with aging including Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and age-related macular degeneration. They could also target conditions like spinal cord injury and diabetes. Using personalized cells and tissues to treat these conditions could minimize immune-related complications and improve health equity by removing the need for matched donors.
“At Cellino, we are actively building the industry-leading AI-driven biomanufacturing technology that personalizes cells, tissues, and organs for all, revolutionizing the treatment landscape for humanity’s most burdensome diseases,” said Nabiha Saklayen, PhD, the company’s CEO & co-founder. “This support from ARPA-H will enable us to accelerate our innovation pace to bring potentially curative cell therapies to patients across the nation and beyond.”
Matthias Wagner, Cellino’s CTO & co-founder, added that the funding “empowers us to unlock the potential of regenerative medicine by harnessing cutting-edge advancements in physics, cell therapy technologies, and artificial intelligence. Our approach is poised to significantly advance the scalability of high-precision biomanufacturing and make ‘your cells, your cure’ a reality for millions of patients.”
