Democratizing Cell Technologies

Dear Stem Cell Pioneers:

     I am as excited as ever about Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, and the role that RoosterBio is playing in advancing these Industries.  Each February marks the anniversary of when we shipped our first stem cell products – 2 years now on the market!  We have shipped our products to 13 countries worldwide, across 5 different continents, and are continuing to expand our reach in the stem cell marketplace.  As the CEO of RoosterBio, I like to take time to reflect during these milestones on where we have been, where we currently are, and where we are going.  This is important to make sure that we are still being true to the mission of the company, the vision that we hold for the industry, and to course correct if necessary.  This keeps us on our trajectory of helping to build a sustainable, lasting business that is helping you, our customers, do amazing things with living cells. 

     Looking forward into 2016 and beyond, our mission is still intact: to greatly increase the availability and accessibility of stem cell technologies to researchers and product developers across the globe.  We remain firmly committed to our vision of accelerating the pace of product development and clinical translation in cellular therapy, bioprinting and tissue engineering.  We have made great strides in 2015 towards these goals, and 2016 brings great opportunity as we continue our journey.

     In 2015, we built upon our hMSC technology platform to launch products focused on two key areas critical to the future of Regenerative Medicine: bioprinting and stem cell manufacturing sciences.  We launched several unique First-In-Class products that greatly simplify R&D in these critical stem cell sub-disciplines, lowering barriers and accelerating discovery and eventual commercial translation. These unprecedented products include:

• RTP (Ready-to-Print) cells, the first stem cell reagent
• RoosterReplenish, the first hMSC suspension bioreactor media feed
• Bioreactor kits and accompanying protocols to simplify and streamline scalable suspension bioreactor expansion of MSCs
• Bioprinting kits and accompanying protocols for simplified mixing and printing of living cellular bioinks

     Our customers have also been very busy working on their own innovations, and the last year has brought multiple abstracts presented at international conferences (including the ORS, ISCT and ISSCR Annual Meetings and the TERMIS World Congress), the first publications using our cells for bioreactor expansion and engineering massive tissue constructs, as well as numerous grant proposals that have been submitted using our products as key reagents. 

     The government’s interest in Therapeutic Cell Manufacturing Sciences has also expanded, and it is accepted now that the US must invest in these technologies and build our own infrastructure and talent base in this critical field (see here and here).  We had the pleasure of participating on the executive committee of a NIST-funded Cell Manufacturing Consortium with many academic and industry leaders in the field of Therapeutic Cell Manufacturing. The output of this is a Technology Roadmap for Scalable Cell Therapy Manufacturing that will drive funding areas in this field for years to come (link to be added as soon as the Roadmap is finalized and published).

     None of this would be possible without the hard work and dedication of the entire RoosterBio team (and we have already added to the team in 2016!), as well as the support that we are getting from you, our valued customers.  Please continue to join us on our journey as we accelerate the development of the cell-based BioEconomy.

All the Best from Frederick, Maryland. 

Jon A Rowley

Chief Executive and Technology Officer

RoosterBio, Inc.