BICO Launches 3D Bioprinting contract research offering from CELLINK, MatTek and Visikol

Press Release
Gothenburg, Sweden
September 21, 2021, 2pm (CEST)

The three companies have joined forces to present customers a first of its kind full-service 3D biomanufacturing and in vitro analysis service

Today, BICO subsidiaries CELLINK, MatTek and Visikol announced the launch of a collaboration combining the expertise of the three companies to establish a contract research organization (CRO) with comprehensive bioprinting services. By forming a joint CRO, CELLINK, MatTek and Visikol have granted their customers access to offerings from all three companies. The partnership furthers the BICO groups’ commitment to its Bio Convergence agenda by identifying synergies in the Bioprinting business area to offer customers solutions trending toward the future of health.

“We are very excited to be joining forces with MatTek and Visikol to offer contract research combining our expertise in cell culture, advanced tissue models, 3D bioprinting, imaging, digital pathology and advanced cell culture assays,” says Itedale Namro Redwan, CSO of CELLINK. “We are confident that our joint effort will contribute to minimizing the use of animal models in research.”

The partnership includes MatTek, which brings decades of primary cell isolation experience; CELLINK, which brings a wealth of bioprinting design and biomaterial development expertise; and Visikol: experts in assay development, and in bridging the gap between 3D models and animal studies.

“By combining the expertise areas of CELLINK, MatTek and Visikol, we’re able to offer researchers a thorough bioprinting experience,” says Michael Johnson, CEO of Visikol. “I’m very proud of this offering and look forward to what we’re able to achieve.”

The joint CRO will offer custom-designed tissue constructs bioprinted by CELLINK. These constructs can either be delivered to customers’ labs for analysis, or customers can select to have BICO run experiments and deliver a detailed report. Alongside custom bioprinting, this partnership will enable customers to leverage established off-the-shelf 3D tissue models and toxicology services from MatTek, and customers will have access to drug toxicity testing and disease modelling platforms from Visikol’s pre-existing services.

“Our complementary technologies and expertise make this partnership with CELLINK and Visikol a natural fit for us,” says Alex Armento, CEO of MatTek. “We’re thrilled to increase our product and service offerings and expand access to more human-relevant testing methods for our customers.”

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This information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, on September 21, 2021, at 2pm (CEST).

About BICO

Founded in 2016, BICO (formerly CELLINK) is the leading Bio Convergence company in the world by combining different technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and 3D bioprinting with biology, we enable our customers to improve people’s health and lives for the better. With a focus on the application areas of bioprinting, multiomics, cell line development, and diagnostics, the company develops and markets innovative technologies that enable researchers in the life sciences to culture cells in 3D, perform high-throughput drug screening and print human tissues and organs for the medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. We create the future of health. The Group’s products are trusted by more than 2,000 laboratories, including all the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, are being used in more than 65 countries, and have been cited in more than 9,000 publications. BICO is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under BICO. www.bico.com

About CELLINK

Founded in 2016, CELLINK is the leading bioconvergence company in the world that provides technologies, products and services to create, understand and master biology. With a focus on the application areas of bioprinting, multiomics, cell line development, and diagnostics, the company develops and markets innovative technologies that enable researchers in the life sciences to culture cells in 3D, perform high-throughput drug screening and print human tissues and organs for the medical, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. www.cellink.com

About MatTek

MatTek was founded in 1985 and began producing human tissue models as reliable replacements for animal testing. MatTek’s skin, ocular, oral, respiratory, and intestinal tissue models are used to assess safety and efficacy throughout the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, personal care, and household product industries. These advanced tissue models empower companies to achieve their goals of non-animal testing while lowering testing costs and providing human-relevant results. The company has expanded its offerings to include cultureware, primary human cells and media, 3Diy kits, and testing services in support of its mission to advance innovative in vitro science through the production of synergistic life science products and services. www.mattek.com

About VISIKOL

Visikol is a contract research services company that is focused on accelerating drug discovery and development through the use of its imaging, digital pathology and advanced cell culture assay services. The company provides end-to-end preclinical services that include both 2D and 3D in vitro models and assays, 3D whole mount tissue imaging, multiplex imaging, high content imaging, digital pathology, and custom drug discovery solutions. Visikol’s expertise is in transforming tissues and cells into large image-based data sets that can be mined for actionable insights such that pharmaceutical and biotech companies can make more quantitative and informed decision during the drug development process. Additionally, Visikol manufactures and sells a suite of tissue clearing reagents and 3D immuno-labelling kits. These products allow researchers to easily and rapidly image whole tissues and 3D cell culture models in 3D instead of traditional 2D sectioning. For more information about Visikol or its services, please visit www.visikol.com

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