Xcell Biosciences To Present Data From Its Avatar System At ISSCR Annual Meeting

Research poster will be co-presented with Illumina, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xcell Biosciences, Inc., announced today that it will co-present a poster at the upcoming International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) annual meeting alongside Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), an early investor in the company. The poster, “Creating a tunable stem cell: modulation of oxygen and atmospheric pressure during culture alters signaling pathways governing stem cell maintenance and differentiation,” features data on the impact of various environmental conditions on stem cell state. The meeting takes place June 22-25 in San Francisco.

“Xcell’s Avatar system, coupled with Illumina’s next generation sequencing platform, offers a powerful tool to help advance stem cell research and cancer biology.”

In 2015, Xcell was one of the first three companies to graduate from Illumina Accelerator, the world’s first business accelerator charged with helping launch genomic companies and building the genomics innovation ecosystem. Since the completion of the program’s six-month funding cycle last year, Xcell has continued to work with Illumina to demonstrate the value of its Avatar™ system for cell-based studies coupled with next generation sequencing.

Stem cells have vast potential for use in reparative medicine due to their extensive ability to proliferate and differentiate into multiple cell lineages. Harnessing this potential requires developing techniques to culture these cells under conditions allowing robust production and consistent function of target adult cells of interest, while avoiding unwanted genetic and epigenetic changes resulting from aberrant differentiation.

“While extensive research has focused on soluble factors to optimize stem cell culture, scientists remain challenged when it comes to identifying the extracellular factors – such as hypoxia and atmospheric pressure – that are important drivers of stem cell differentiation and cell function,” said Brian Feth, CEO of Xcell Biosciences. "We have developed a novel primary cell culture bioreactor that provides control of the microenvironment of cells and, as a result, tuning of stem cell state. We believe this ability to control stem cell differentiation and function through microenvironment manipulation will have significant impact on the field of stem cell research."

“Illumina’s continued collaboration with Xcell demonstrates our long-term commitment to driving value for our Illumina Accelerator startups,” said Amanda Cashin, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Head of Illumina Accelerator. “Xcell’s Avatar system, coupled with Illumina’s next generation sequencing platform, offers a powerful tool to help advance stem cell research and cancer biology.”

The poster (#T3004) will be presented on Thursday, June 23 at 7:00 PM.

About the Avatar System

The Avatar system, including a bench-top and stackable instrument and consumables for a number of applications, enables a new generation of cell-based assays by allowing for complete control of key physiological conditions found in the microenvironments of cells, including settings for pressure, oxygen, temperature and CO2 levels. In addition to enabling culture of difficult samples such as tumor biopsies and primary samples, the system overcomes limitations of traditional cell culture to generate results that exhibit the phenotypic, genomic and proteomic characteristics of the native sample.

For more information, visit www.xcellbio.com.

About Xcell Biosciences, Inc.

Xcell Biosciences, Inc., is developing revolutionary products and workflows for life science and translational research that reproduce physiologically relevant conditions to enable more meaningful, biologically relevant experiments. The company’s tools empower scientists to obtain accurate and actionable results in important fields such as cancer research, biomarker discovery, lead candidate selection and optimization, stem cell research and regenerative medicine, and immunotherapy drug development. Xcell’s first product, the Avatar™ system, opens the door for a new generation of cell-based assays by allowing for complete control of key physiological conditions found in cellular microenvironments. In addition to enabling culture of difficult samples such as tumor biopsies and primary samples, the system overcomes limitations of traditional cell culture to generate results that exhibit the phenotypic, genomic and proteomic characteristics of the native sample. Based in San Francisco, Xcell Biosciences has raised more than $5M from Viking Global, DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and HBM Genomics, as well as a number of other angel investors and funds.