Lab Bulletin

Medical company CellCap Technologies Ltd has received a £75,000 Pathfinder investment from The North West Fund for Biomedical, managed by Spark Impact. 

CellCap, which will soon be relocating to Merseyside, has developed a new product to harvest stem cells from blood or adipose (fat) tissue. Up to 10% of the cells in body fat are stem cells, which can be extracted with liposuction, but then they are very difficult to separate from the lipids and other cells. 

CellCap's product can quickly and easily harvest stem cells from adipose, releasing them in a condition virtually identical to the state they are found naturally in the body. 

The product will see a great advance in stem cell research, as for the first time, high yields of stem cells (over 1 million) can be used in their active biological forms. The ultimate aim is to translate them into stem cell therapies, where a patient can be treated with stem cells collected pre-surgery from their own body, ensuring minimal risk of rejection. 

The technology is also being investigated to create advancements in the detection of circulating tumour cells, microbes in biothreat, hospital, food or environmental areas, and the diagnosis of diseases such as Alzheimer's - all of which start with complex and difficult sample types that have to be processed before they can be tested. 

The North West Fund for Biomedical is a sub-fund of The North West Fund,  a substantial pot of money jointly financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank and available to  support small and medium sized businesses in the North West of England to start, develop and  grow.

The investment from the Biomedical Fund through SPARK Impact will be used by CellCap to evaluate the technology in two new laboratories at the cutting edge of stem cell research. This will provide independent confirmation of the benefits and advantages of the product. 

Damian Bond, CEO and co-founder of CellCap, said: "The investment from the Fund via SPARK Impact allows us to push the product development closer to launch. Having worked for 10 years developing bioscience businesses in the North West and Merseyside in particular, CellCap is the most exciting opportunity so far and is supported by an excellent team in the University of Liverpool." 

Dr Penny Attridge, senior investment director at SPARK Impact and manager of The North West Fund for Biomedical, said: "Cellcap's technology to harvest stem cells paves the way to a greater understanding of diseases and tissue regeneration which will hopefully lead to the successful development of effective therapeutics."

Cellcap is the 19^th investment for The North West Fund for Biomedical to date.

For more information about CellCap Technologies visit www.cell-capture.com

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