Taconic Biosciences and Cellaria Biosciences have announced that they have entered into a scientific collaboration designed to facilitate and improve the utility of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) in animal models for oncology and immuno-oncology research. Cellaria’s novel methodologies for generating cells from patient tumours will complement Taconic’s portfolio of tissue humanised mouse models, which are well-suited as hosts for PDXs.
The value of using patient-derived tumours in oncology and immuno-oncology research has been well documented, but traditional methods of obtaining tumour cell material have proven labour-intensive and expensive, inhibiting researchers’ access to this material. Cellaria’s innovative approach to propagating tumour cell material and generating PDX banks significantly reduces the associated labour and costs, making patient-derived tumour models more accessible to investigators.
“Our scientific collaboration with Cellaria is a prime example of us pushing the boundaries of technology to improve the utility of humanised animal models in biomedical research,” said Todd Little from Taconic Biosciences. “By collaborating with a company that has achieved great success in generating cell lines from patient-derived tumours, Taconic will be able to deliver more predictive tissue humanised models that will improve and accelerate oncology research and drug discovery.”
Cellaria’s advanced technology facilitates the creation of PDX banks in a more controlled manner, supports more effective tumour engraftments on study animals, and enables harvesting sufficient tumour material for use in long-term and repeat studies. The companies’ initial collaborations will focus on the creation of breast cancer cell lines from PDX models for which Taconic holds licenses from the University of Utah.
