Tuesday 10th May 2016, 11:00am
The merger was announced today of Roslin Cell Sciences and Roslin Cellab, two companies previously created as spin outs from the Roslin Institute and both focussed on using stem cells to discover new drugs. Following the merger, the parent company has been renamed Censo Biotechnologies Ltd with Roslin Cell Sciences Ltd continuing to trade as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Censo Biotechnologies has extensive capacity to create and use induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) for drug discovery research with sites in Edinburgh and Cambridge, UK.
Censo Biotechnologies produces stem cells from large diverse groups of individuals, so that drug development companies can understand how the efficacy of their drugs varies across the population. This underpins faster drug development and enables the right drug to be targeted to the right patient.
"I am delighted that we have been able to combine the resources which have developed in parallel in Roslin Cell Sciences and Roslin Cellab.
The combined group will deliver a diverse range of research services to drug discovery companies which recognise the immense potential for using human stem cells and their derivatives in modern drug discovery.
We will retain a connection to our roots at The Roslin Institute through the Roslin Cell Sciences subsidiary, but have taken the opportunity to develop a new corporate identity which highlights our ambition for the technology."
Aidan Courtney, CEO of Censo Biotechnologies and Roslin Cell SciencesFirst pioneered in 2006, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology makes it possible to create stem cells in the laboratory from any person who donates a skin or blood sample. The stem cells can then be transformed into brain, heart and many other types of cell so that, for stem cells created from individuals suffering from a disease, researchers are then able to replicate the disease under laboratory conditions.
This “disease in a dish” research is creating the means to study the early stages of many diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, which was previously not possible.
Drug discovery companies are increasingly recognising that iPSC technology will allow them to test potential new drugs in the laboratory more effectively – reducing the risk of expensive failures in clinical trials. Because human disease models are usually preferable to animal models, iPSC technology is expected to lead to fewer experimental animals being needed in future.
Censo Biotechnologies is a stem cell technology company providing human cells and contract research services for drug discovery, toxicity testing and cell banking. The company has the capabilities to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from large cohorts of individuals and use the potential of these cells to create virtually any cell in the human body.
By developing cell-based models of disease using cells from a diverse range of tissue donors, the company supports the development of new targeted treatments for disease. Its major focus is the generation of novel data on drug efficacy and drug response variation for a given population.
The company was founded in 2016 through the merger of Roslin Cellab and Roslin Cell Sciences and has facilities in both Edinburgh and Cambridge, UK.
Roslin Cell Sciences is focused on induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) based research services to deliver data demonstrating human cell response to candidate drugs across a diversity of genotypes.
Their capabilities are concentrated on creating large numbers of iPSC lines from diverse cohorts of donors and the subsequent development and implementation of human stem cell derived models of disease in support of commercial and academic drug research.
Roslin Cellab will continue to offer comprehensive and professional training in tissue culture technology ranging from beginner level through to the scientist requiring either a refresher course or to expand their current knowledge into that of human pluripotent stem cell culture and research. Training can be designed to suit your specific needs, tailored to fit your stem cell research, or advice thorough consultation on how to establish tissue culture facilities within your research laboratory.
For further information, please contact:
Kevin BruceRoslin Innovation Centre
The University of Edinburgh
Easter Bush Campus
Midlothian EH25 9RG
