Behind CellEDIT Service: The Experts Crafting Top-Quality Genetically Engineered Cell Lines for Researchers Worldwide
Scientist
on
June 9, 2024
This blog post was written by Cytosurge, cell line development service provider that is dedicated to fulfilling the unmet need for implementing complex genetic designs into gene-edited mammalian cell lines.
Cytosurge’s CellEDIT Service provides high-quality cell lines for research purposes. This innovative service represents a novel workflow leveraging Cytosurge’s proprietary FluidFM® technology to perform intranuclear injection of CRISPR/Cas9 components into single cells. This method delivers precise amounts of CRISPR RNPs directly into single-cell nuclei, ensuring controlled edits with minimal impact on the cells. We talked with the team behind this technology to better understand its uniqueness.
Dr. Adèle Kerjouan, R&D Scientist & Product Manager
How do you transition CellEDIT technology from lab discoveries to market-ready products, ensuring high-quality products and meeting customer-specific needs?
The CellEDIT Service leverages the unique advantages of FluidFM® technology (Fig. 1) to create new ways of engineering cells. Since no one has done this before us, we draw inspiration from what customers need most: (1) high-quality disease models they can trust for their research, and (2) a new CRISPR approach that surpasses current possibilities, enabling biomedical research to thrive. Because every customer has specific needs, we aim to develop a service that adapts and responds best to each demand, from editing complexity to cell line-specific genotyping solutions and quality controls. We also made it easy for everyone to customize their cell line directly by receiving instant quotes on our online quoter.
Dr. Susanne Mailand, Head of CellEDIT Fulfillment
How has the CellEDIT technology enhanced your team’s capabilities in producing engineered cell lines to meet diverse and complex customer specifications?
Thanks to our unique technology — gentle to the cell, direct intranuclear injection and working with small and defined volumes — the CellEDIT fulfillment team can handle a wide range of customized cell engineering projects. Common projects include complex edits such as multiplexing, which employs the injection of multiple gRNAs to generate edits across the genome simultaneously, functional engineering with a defined gRNA approach to target a specific number of splice variants and both homozygous and heterozygous editing. Additionally, we can work with difficult or hard-to-transfect cells, such as SK-Mes1 cells or immortalized primary cells.
Uwe Heuzeroth, Director of CellEDIT Platform
What are some of the engineering challenges you’ve faced while developing the CellEDIT system, and how did you overcome them?
At Cytosurge, I am entrusted with the advancement of our CellEDIT workflow and the conceptualization and construction of a tailored, scalable laboratory infrastructure dedicated to the engineering of cell lines. One of the biggest challenges for the automation of the CellEDIT workflow was moving beyond traditional industrial automation concepts. Our product requires extensive cell-related data collection, storage and analysis. Considering the variety of cell types and unpredicted post-edit behaviors, the automation system must handle several specific interventions.
How are scientific achievements supported and enhanced through engineering solutions (lab automation) and what are the plans for the future?
We are currently focusing on deeper automation of the cell nursery while simultaneously creating the structure for a virtual associate to support our cell engineers’ diagnostics and even make intervention proposals and edit-expression predictions.
Dr. Xuan Droz, R&D Scientist / Project Manager
How do you manage the integration of diverse scientific and technological components in the CellEDIT workflow to meet clients’ needs and project timelines?
To boost the capabilities of our CellEDIT workflow for more intricate genetic engineering projects, we begin by identifying the specific requirements of client projects and assessing areas that could benefit from enhancement. With clear objectives aligned with client needs, we explore potential in-house advancements and identify the most suitable external solutions, ensuring seamless integration with our existing processes. By prioritizing workflow compatibility, timelines and cost-efficiency, we improve our ability to tackle complex genetic engineering challenges. Through close collaboration between the cell line engineering team, the CellEDIT Service team and external partners, we strive to refine our workflow, reducing turnaround times and delivering a superior service to our clients. This client-focused approach enables us to continuously advance our expertise and maintain our commitment to excellence in cell line engineering.
Dr. Tobias Beyer, CSO/ Application Specialist
What recent successes highlight CellEDIT’s precision and control?
In the world of cell engineering, precision and control over stoichiometry is paramount. As showcased in a recent publication from our collaboration with the University of Tübingen, our CellEDIT technology not only provides a gentle means to deliver RNP’s to the nucleus of single cells, but also enables efficient multiplex editing. Two future publications will highlight how CellEDIT helped to dissect the function of a complex promoter region in the context of cancer and to entangle the individual function of splice variants of secreted factors in skin homeostasis.
How do you envision the impact of CellEDIT technology evolving in the field of cell engineering over the next five years?
Building on our current strengths, CellEDIT will enable not only precise genome editing, but true genome engineering by co-injection of CRISPR/Cas RNP’s with DNA templates containing new genome information. Moreover, we constantly invest in R&D to broaden our offer such as immune cells and iPSC. Further down the road, by combining CellEDIT with other aspects of FluidFM technology such as Live-seq, I envision Cytosurge becoming the first choice for precise cell line engineering solutions.
Dr. Gorka Santos, Sales Manager CellEDIT
What makes the CellEDIT service stand out in the market, and how do you communicate this uniqueness to prospective clients?
As mentioned before, one of the core strengths of the CellEDIT Service is our customer-centric approach and the close relationship we build with our customers worldwide thanks to our open, clear and fast communication.
From the technology perspective, what truly sets us apart is our vector-free approach. This innovative method opens numerous possibilities in fields such as cancer and immunology research. By eliminating the use of vectors, we provide a safer, more efficient solution that expands the potential applications and enhances the overall impact of our clients’ research.
When we communicate these unique aspects to prospective clients, we highlight how the in-depth scientific knowledge of our team, the personalized customer engagement and the advanced technology, together create a compelling value proposition that sets us apart in the market.
For more information about the CellEDIT Service workflow, please visit the CellEDIT page, follow Cytosurge on social media for timely updates on CellEDIT and more and check out our profile on Scientist.com!