LifeNet Health LifeSciences
Scientist
on
June 8, 2021
This installment of Supplier Spotlight® is on LifeNet Health LifeSciences, who meet the demand for human primary cells, tissues and 3D Models for scientific research, drug discovery and safety testing.
What is your company’s mission?
LifeNet Health LifeSciences is an innovative leader, trusted collaborator and reliable solutions provider that is committed to advancing science, accelerating discovery and optimizing outcomes.
What products and services do you offer?
We offer a wide array of research solutions consisting of high-quality primary human cells, companion tissue products and a prospective human biospecimen recovery service.
Our current human primary cell portfolio is liver-focused and includes hepatocytes, stellate cells, Kupffer cells and liver-endothelial cells from healthy and diseased donors. All of our primary liver cells are meticulously documented with extensive characterization. Each of our cells is accompanied by a comprehensive certificate of analysis, including donor medical and social history and histopathology assessment by a board-certified pathologist with H&E and Trichrome stained images as well as NAFLD activity score and fibrosis stage. Hepatocytes are tested for phase I and II enzyme activity, induction of major CYP450 mRNA and specific enzyme activity, and they are genotyped for pharmacologically relevant polymorphisms. Optimized hepatocyte thawing, plating and culture medium is available. Donor-matched companion tissue for our liver cells is also available in the form of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks and snap frozen liver tissue. Our tissue samples represent a broad spectrum of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NAFLD/NASH).
Our human biospecimen recovery service is a custom, prospective tissue recovery program where we work directly with the client to define a project, identify all necessary project specifications, recover the tissue of interest and deliver the tissue to the client for research. We have extensive experience recovering multiple tissue types with over 200 recovery protocols in place and the capability of delivering over 1,000 biospecimens per year to our clients.
What problems do you solve?
We meet the demand for high-quality, human-based research solutions that help better guide the drug discovery process. The inclusion of human cells, tissues and models provides critical translational data that can lead to better decisions and improved efficiency as compared to the use of animal models and engineered cell lines alone.
What are the most innovative tools and technologies that you offer?
We are focused on providing the most complete liver portfolio for our clients, including non-parenchymal liver cells (NPCs) representing a broad range of the NAFLD spectrum.
This enables researchers to more accurately study and understand the differences between normal and disease physiology. Additionally, we offer donor-matched liver cells and tissue samples, giving researchers the opportunity to work with multiple cell types and tissue from the same donor to study cell-to-cell interactions, biomarkers and gene expression. Finally, the breadth of our high-quality inventory ensures the availability of the right cell for every application.
What are your competitive advantages?
LifeSciences leverages LifeNet Health’s infrastructure, relationships, reputation and vertical integration to provide the highest-quality tissues and cells for research. This is a key advantage to our customers; we are the only provider to be vertically integrated across every step, enabling diligent stewardship of the donated gifts from recovery to handling and preservation to the isolation of cells. Our tight control over each of these processes ensures tissue integrity and quality are sustained.
Who are your clients?
We support customers in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and agrichemical companies around the world.
What new products and services are you developing in 2021?
LifeNet Health LifeSciences is preparing to launch its new, all-human hepatic Tri-Culture model. This in vitro assay system maintains hepatocyte viability, functionality and metabolic capacity for over two weeks — up to 10 days longer than traditional sandwich culture. Other human primary cells in development include primary human thyrocytes and lung cells (including alveolar type II epithelial cells).
Where are your laboratories and offices located?
LifeNet Health’s global headquarters is located in Virginia Beach, Virginia with additional
locations in Washington, Florida, North Carolina, California and Indiana. LifeNet
Health’s European headquarters is located in Vienna, Austria.
LifeSciences laboratories are located in California, North Carolina and Virginia.