22 October 2018 - - Swiss life science company Selexis SA and US-based digital cell biology company Berkeley Lights, Inc. have forged a collaboration around the acquisition of Berkeley Lights' Beacon optofluidic platform, the companies said.

The partners will leverage the technology to accelerate cell line development with the Selexis SUREtechnology Platform.

Selexis scientists have extensively evaluated the Beacon technology and will now further incorporate it into the SUREtechnology Platform workflow.

Utilising the Beacon's optofluidic and single cell analysis technology, the Selexis team has significantly shortened the time required to identify and select the optimal cell line manufacturing clones within the CLD process.

Selexis' SUREtechnology Platform is based upon optimized epigenetic DNA-based elements (Selexis Genetic Elements) that protect integrated transgenes from the transcription silencing effects of surrounding chromatin, allowing for robust production levels of protein therapeutics.

This technology eliminates the need for large-scale screening to identify high-producing clones; allowing for research cell bank generation in as little as 14 weeks.

Of that 14-week development time, subcloning and optimal clone identification still typically require four to eight weeks.

By integrating the Beacon technology into the SUREtechnology Platform and by adapting a unique and proprietary cell clone prediction tool, the company will be able to shave off several weeks in the development of a research cell bank, thereby speeding the development of high-quality drug product to the clinic.

Selexis SA is in cell line development with modular technology and highly specialised solutions that enable the life sciences industry to rapidly discover, develop and commercialise innovative medicines and vaccines.

Its global partners are utilising Selexis technologies to advance more than 100 drug products in clinical development and the manufacture of three commercial products.

As part of a drug development process, the company's technologies shorten development timelines and reduce manufacturing risks.

In June 2017, Selexis became part of the JSR Life Sciences group.

JSR's CDMO service offering leverages the full capabilities of Selexis' proprietary SUREtechnology Platform to offer an end-to-end solution to industry.

Berkeley Lights is a digital cell biology company that develops and commercializes platforms for the acceleration of discovery, development, and delivery of cell-based products and therapies.

At the intersection of biology, technology and information, our platforms automate the manipulation, analysis and selection of individual cells, creating ultimate scalability and deep cell insights.

The Beacon platform is ideally suited for cell line development, antibody discovery (including direct B-cell workflows), gene editing, and antibody engineering workflows.

Each workflow provides a 100-fold increase in insights, 10 times faster, at a fraction of the cost.