Cellares Partners with Sony to Enhance Cell Therapy Manufacturing Automation

• Cellares partners with Sony Corporation to integrate advanced flow cytometry technology into automated cell therapy manufacturing.

• The collaboration aims to enhance cell sorting and analysis, improving efficiency and scalability of the Cell Shuttle platform.

Cellares, a provider of automated cell therapy manufacturing solutions, has announced a partnership with Sony Corporation to jointly develop advanced flow cytometry-based cell analysis and sorting solutions. The collaboration will incorporate Sony’s CGX10 Cell Isolation System into Cellares’ Cell Shuttle platform, further automating and enhancing cell therapy manufacturing processes.

The Cell Shuttle, designed for clinical and commercial-scale cell therapy production, automates all unit operations in a closed, ISO 8 environment. The platform allows for the production of up to 16 cell therapy batches in parallel while reducing costs by as much as 50% compared to traditional CDMO batch pricing. By integrating Sony’s cell sorting and analysis technologies, the system will improve the scalability and efficiency of therapies dependent on cell sorting, such as regulatory T cells (Treg) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSC).

Sony’s CGX10 system, known for its high-speed, high-purity cell sorting capabilities, will complement the Cell Shuttle by enabling automated and precise cell analysis during the manufacturing process. This integration will allow for real-time monitoring of cell quality and quantity, which is expected to streamline workflows and further reduce costs.

Katsunori Ogawa, Head of Sony’s Life Science & Technology Business Unit, commented on the importance of cell sorting in therapy development: “Incorporating high-performance cell analysis and sorting capabilities in an end-to-end automated process paves the way for scaling up the manufacturing of those therapies.”

Fabian Gerlinghaus, CEO and co-founder of Cellares, added: “Sony’s technology will integrate seamlessly and provide throughput and full automation for manufacturing workflows requiring cell analysis and sorting. We are pleased to work together with Sony to meet this industry need.”