Scaling up in human tissue culture

A spin-off of university professor Clemens van Blitterswijk’s research group, ReGEN Biomedical focuses on cultivating large quantities of functional microtissues to serve as building blocks for clinical application in macrotissues and ultimately in the repair of muscles, cartilage and organs. Last year, a production line was set up for the culturing of muscle, bone and organ tissue at Brightlands Maastricht Health Campus. Human cells and other raw materials are processed and stored in the various cleanrooms there. The heart of ReGEN Biomedical is the cleanroom where actual production takes place, involving a process performed by a robotized system. During a fully automated process, cells are inserted into the thousands of tiny compartments after which they are fed and combined so that they can grow to become tiny slices of tissue. These slices are currently being used for research.

With Demcon joining as a technology partner, ReGEN Biomedical expects to be able to scale up further. Prof. Marianne van der Steen, co-founder and CEO of ReGEN Biomedical, is happy about the arrival of Demcon, a company with over 1,000 employees and offices in the Netherlands, Japan and Singapore. “This is an important step for us but also for the national pilot plant we are a part of. In addition to the financial investment, Demcon will provide us with the engineering expertise necessary to build large-scale production lines faster and better. The future of healthcare is curing chronic diseases through regenerative-medicine solutions; our company is making this affordable for all patients. This investment will help us contribute to a better future for patients.”

Dennis Schipper, CEO of Demcon, is also pleased with the partnership. “At Demcon, we aim to develop technological solutions that enable us to make a social impact. Having started out in high-tech mechatronics, we have now also been active in life sciences and health for over ten years. It’s no coincidence that we started a branch in Maastricht a few years ago where we work mostly on medical technology projects. The current team at ReGEN Biomedical has taken a fantastic first step in equipping the pilot line; we are now entering the company’s next growth phase and working on the next step in regenerative medicine.”

CEO of Brightlands Life Sciences Ventures Murk Peutz believes the collaboration is important to the development of the Brightlands ecosystem. “The rapidly increasing demand for regenerative medical applications requires new production methods for cells and tissues. These methods are being developed thanks to the combination of Demcon’s technological knowledge with Maastricht University’s biological expertise.”