The facility will offer clients immune-oncology models for preclinical translational work by the end of the year.
These include Western patient-derived xenografts in humanized mice, mice tumour models raised in an immunocompetent environment (including syngenic cell line-derived allografts), genetically engineered mice models, and autografts of spontaneous mouse tumors (MuPrime).
The centre is located at the David H Murdock Research Institute in Kannapolis, North Carolina and will be allowed to use the institute’s flow cytometry and immunoassay technologies.
Jean-Pierre Wery, President of Crown Bioscience, said expanding the company’s PDX studies and access immunotherapeutic translational technology platforms is in response to customer demand for new models to drive immune therapy research forward.
“Relevant preclinical models to recapitulate clinical treatments are desperately needed and the Research Center will provide partners with a range of immunotherapy research platforms for preclinical drug development, including platforms of mouse and human immunity.
“The new research centre will be split into two business units for oncology and CVMD [cardiovascular and metabolic diseases], with both areas of the business set to experience significant expansion.
“The facilities available to us at the DHMRI are excellent, and will greatly benefit our work in translational research across oncology and metabolic disease.”
Last month, Crown told this site its xenograft models make better predictions than many in vitro research methods. But, said Wery, “if a company can break through and create in vitro systems which would maintain the speed, throughput and cost advantages, and have equal or better predictive power than the in vivo models, the market opportunity and the impact of such technology would be huge, almost revolutionary.”
The company partnered with Nanjing University’s National Resource Centre for Mutant Mice in May this year to provide genetically-engineered mutant mice with low immunity to clients.