Abcam Expands Cell Engineering Capabilities Through Asset Purchase of Applied StemCell’s Gene Editing Platform and Oncology Product Portfolio

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Abcam appoints Michael Baldock as Chief Financial Officer

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Abcam announces successful acquisition of Expedeon’s Proteomics and Immunology business, enhancing its conjugation capability

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Abcam and SomaServe announce comprehensive partnership to realise the potential of PolyNaut® ‘bionic’ nanoparticles for delivery to live cells

  • Commercialise novel cell delivery platform technology
  • Develop novel delivery methods for research applications
  • Revolutionise utility of live cell imaging to explore disease

Cambridge, UK, – 17 December 2019: Abcam plc, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools, and SomaServe Ltd, a Pharma service and specialist reagent business exploiting PolyNaut® Technology, have announced a partnership to commercialise the cell delivery potential of the polymer-based ’bionic’ nanoparticles, which can carry a range of payloads directly to live cells.

Dr Fran Crawford, CEO, SomaServe, commented: “Abcam’s reputation as an innovator in the field of biological reagents and dedicated global commercialisation infrastructure, coupled with their transparent and collegiate partnership approach, made them the standout choice as our development and commercialisation partner for the PolyNaut® Technology platform. We are excited to be working together to maximise the potential of our innovative delivery platform for research and diagnostic applications.“

Dr Cheri Walker, SVP Corporate Development, Abcam, added: “Investing in innovative ideas and platform technologies, and supporting these through to global commercialization, is a key element of our growth strategy. Our industry expertise and co-location in major technology hubs throughout the world, enables our partners to rapidly get their innovations into the hands of the global research community. Our objective is to partner, fund and commercialize early stage technologies which have the promise to improve and accelerate research. And ultimately to contribute to advancing the understanding of biology and cause of disease, which enables new treatments and improved health outcomes.“

The collaboration will initially focus on the development and global commercialisation of a suite of CelLuminate dyes, specifically created to revolutionise live cell imaging by enabling cells to remain functional and viable for up to 14 days. This crucial reduction in toxicity gives users the ability to thoroughly probe and analyse their cells, enabling them to achieve deeper insights and advance their understanding.

Beyond improving and enhancing live cell imaging, the team will work together to expand the delivery and assay options of the platform, including optimising its potential in combination with antibodies and other technologies. In addition to the commercial partnership, Abcam has invested in SomaServe’s seed round to help accelerate the development of an innovative market leading platform for research, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

About Abcam

As a global life sciences company, Abcam identifies, develops, and distributes high-quality biological reagents and tools that are crucial to research, drug discovery and diagnostics. Working across the industry, the Company supports life scientists to achieve their mission, faster.

Abcam partners with life science organisations to co-create novel binders for use in drug discovery, in vitro diagnostics and therapeutics, driven by the Company’s proprietary discovery platforms and world-leading, antibody expertise.

By constantly innovating its binders and assays, Abcam is helping advance the global understanding of biology and causes of disease, which enables new treatments and improved health. The Company’s pioneering data-sharing approach gives scientists increased confidence in their results by providing validation, user comments and peer-reviewed citations for its 110,000 products.

With ten sites globally, many of Abcam’s 1,100 strong team are located in the world’s leading life science research hubs, complementing a global network of services and support.

To discover more, please visit www.abcam.com and www.abcamplc.com.

About SomaServe

Founded in 2018, SomaServe was spun out of UCL with the mission to build a uniquely positioned pharma service and specialist reagent business exploiting PolyNaut® Technology to image live cells and improve the therapeutic viability of molecules with poor pharmacokinetic and chemical properties.

PolyNaut® Technology is a versatile nano-engineered polymer technology for in vivo intracellular delivery. The resulting polymer nanoparticle vesicle is known as ’the bionic nanoparticle’. The widely diverse polymer structure is highly flexible and can accept small molecules, peptides and proteins, antibodies, nuclear material, dyes and probes. The resulting nanoparticles then deliver their cargo to the interior of the cell, greatly enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of the encapsulated molecules. In addition, it is possible to functionalise the vesicle surface with targeting ligands to aid penetration of biological barriers such as the blood brain barrier.

This cell delivery technology can also be successfully employed to enhance live cell imaging. The resulting CelLuminate suite of dyes have been developed to image live cells in vitro. CelLuminate has the benefit of significantly reduced cytotoxicity compared to industry standard cell imaging reagents. Cells under test can remain functional and viable for periods of up to fourteen days, giving researchers in industry and academia more time for image analysis.

The patented PolyNaut® technology underpins SomaServe’s portfolio of specialist reagents and is at the heart of the Precision Services offering. Precision Services provide bespoke drug discovery and product development services to pharma and non-pharma companies for proprietary molecules through the conduct of iterative feasibility studies and technology licence. The focus of the Precision Services division is to improve the therapeutic viability of potential therapeutic molecules with poor pharmacokinetic and chemical properties.

For more information see http://somaserve.com/home-somaserve.

Media contacts

At Abcam:

Dr Lynne Trowbridge
T: +44 7815 167026
E: lynne.trowbridge@abcam.com

At SomaServe:

Dr Fran Crawford, CEO
M: 07714 672027

Abcam Honoured As One Of The UK’s Best Places To Work In 2020; A Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award Winner

Cambridge UK, 11 December 2019: – Abcam has been honoured with a Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, recognising the Best Places to Work in 2020. Abcam is ranked 6th in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work UK list.

The Employees’ Choice Awards are based solely on the input of employees who elect to provide feedback on their jobs, work environments and companies on Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites.

Alan Hirzel, CEO, Abcam, commented “I’m delighted that our people have rated Abcam as one of the best places to work. As we continue to grow, we want to attract and retain the best talent to help us support the life science community in furthering their research. This phenomenal feedback demonstrates just how good a company we are to work for.”

Nick Skinner, SVP of Human Resources, Abcam said “I am proud that we have a culture in which our employees can grow and thrive and develop their careers as we grow as an organisation. Thank you to all our employees who help to make us one of the best places to work.”

Christian Sutherland-Wong, Glassdoor President, Chief Operating Officer and incoming CEO said “This year marks the shift to a culture-first decade in the workplace. Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards winners are prioritising their culture and mission and putting employees at the heart of everything they do. In turn, their employees have recognised them as truly the Best Places to Work in 2020. In addition, this year’s winners stand out for providing exceptional career growth opportunities and encouraging work which is driven by impact and purpose. Congratulations go to all of the companies this year who stand out in the eyes of their employees.”

About Abcam

As a global life sciences company, Abcam identifies, develops, and distributes high-quality biological reagents and tools that are crucial to research, drug discovery and diagnostics. Working across the industry, the Company supports life scientists to achieve their mission, faster.

Abcam partners with life science organisations to co-create novel binders for use in drug discovery, in vitro diagnostics and therapeutics, driven by the Company’s proprietary discovery platforms and world-leading, antibody expertise.

By constantly innovating its binders and assays, Abcam is helping advance the global understanding of biology and causes of disease, which enables new treatments and improved health. The Company’s pioneering data-sharing approach gives scientists increased confidence in their results by providing validation, user comments and peer-reviewed citations for its 110,000 products.

With ten sites globally, many of Abcam’s 1,100 strong team are located in the world’s leading life science research hubs, complementing a global network of services and support. Abcam was admitted to AIM in 2005 (AIM: ABC).

To discover more, please visit www.abcam.com and www.abcamplc.com

Media Contact: Claire Thompson, claire.thompson@agilityhealthtech.com, M: 44 (0)7885591187
About Glassdoor

Glassdoor combines all the latest jobs with millions of reviews and insights to make it easy for people to find a job that is uniquely right for them. As a result, Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective recruiting solutions like job advertising and employer branding products. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor now has reviews and insights for over one million companies located in more than 190 countries. For more information, visit glassdoor.com. Glassdoor® is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

On Glassdoor, current and former employees voluntarily and anonymously share insights and opinions about their work environments by sharing a company review, designed to capture a genuine and authentic inside look at what a specific job may be like at a particular company. When sharing a company review on Glassdoor, employees are asked to rate their satisfaction with the company overall, and key workplace factors like career opportunities, compensation and benefits, culture and values, senior management and work/life balance. In addition, employees are asked to describe the best reasons to work at their companies as well as any downsides.

Media Contact: Jo Cresswell – pr@glassdoor.com

About Glassdoor Best Places to Work Awards

Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work were determined using company reviews shared by UK-based employees between 23rd October 2018 and 21st October 2019. To be considered for the UK award, a company must have had at least 1,000 or more employees and have received at least 30 ratings across each of the eight workplace attributes from UK-based employees during the period of eligibility. The final list is compiled using Glassdoor’s proprietary algorithm, led by its Economic Research Team, and takes into account quantity, quality and consistency of reviews.

For the complete list of the Glassdoor Best Places to Work winners in 2020, please visit: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Award/Best-Places-to-Work-UK-LST_KQ0,22.htm

Abcam delivers outstanding performance in new Biocompare antibody market report

  • Academic and industry scientists rank Abcam as their Overall Preferred Antibody Supplier
  • Peer recognition of Best Antibody Specificity demonstrates success of Company’s ongoing efforts to help life science industry address global reproducibility crisis

Cambridge, UK, 27 November 2019 – Today, Abcam plc, a global innovator in life science reagents and tools that support research, drug discovery and diagnostics, formally announced that it has received wide-reaching industry recognition as overall market leader, championing scientific reproducibility and exceptional customer service.

Recognition for excellence within specific research categories such as neurobiology, inflammation, infectious disease and stem cells reflect the Company’s focus on addressing the complex needs of disease-specific research. This recognition is based on Biocompare’s Antibody Market Survey & Report, which surveyed over 650 end-users of antibodies and custom antibody services across the life science industry.

Dr John Baker, Senior Vice-President, Product Portfolio and Innovation at Abcam, said: “Selected by scientists, this recognition acknowledges our commitment to high-quality products powering the scientific research that ultimately leads to crucial breakthroughs. The results recognise our relentless focus on providing outstanding technical support and overall customer experience. We collaborate with the life sciences industry to support the discovery and development of tomorrow’s medicines, and this is a testament to our ongoing success.”

The report investigated life scientists’ needs and preferences, information on antibody selection, key applications and purchasing considerations, as well as the impact of the availability of data on antibody validation and reproducibility. The need for improved data continues to dominate as the quality of life sciences reagents, such as antibodies1, is linked to the global reproducibility crisis that has impacted the industry as a whole.

Over the past year Abcam has significantly expanded its in-house platform capabilities, products and services offerings through a series of strategic partnerships and collaborations, including Custom Solutions and Commercial Partnerships. Most recently, Abcam launched the largest portfolio of knockout cell lysates on the market, enabling scientists’ access to “off-the-shelf” products previously unavailable at such a scale.

References

1. Bradbury A. et al., 2015. Reproducibility: Standardize antibodies used in research. Nature. 518(7537): pp 27-9.

Scientists poised to unlock their understanding of autophagy with new antibody-based insights

  • Improved understanding could influence future diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
  • World’s leading methods journal documents use of key antibody, developed as part of Abcam – University of Ottawa collaboration.

25 November 2019, Cambridge, UK – Abcam is excited to announce its involvement in a ground-breaking methodology paper published today in Nature Methods, describing a new technique that promises to significantly advance our understanding of autophagy – cells’ “waste management system.”

As part of a long-standing collaboration between senior author Ryan Charles Russell at the University of Ottawa and Abcam, a highly-sensitive RabMAb™ rabbit monoclonal has been developed with the ability to detect a vital step in the “autophagosome” formation process, the phosphorylation of protein ATG16L1. Autophagy facilitates cells’ removal of old and dysfunctional components as well as those that might be harmful. This process has been implicated in a number of chronic, life-threatening diseases including neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

In the Nature Methods paper, the team at the University of Ottawa describe a method whereby the phosphorylated version of protein ATG16L1 can be detected by Abcam’s RabMAb antibody (ab195242) through important protein assays such as Western blot, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Phospho-ATG16L1 levels measured using the antibody directly corresponded to the rate of autophagy in the studied cells, meaning that this is also a sensitive tool for studying the rate of induction of new, active autophagosomes.

The RabMAb platform combines the unique properties of the rabbit immune system with Abcam’s antibody platforms to generate recombinant rabbit monoclonals with particularly high affinity and specificity. The recombinant antibody format delivers significantly higher reproducibility and enhanced batch to batch consistency.

Full details can be found in the paper:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-019-0661-y

Learn about RabMAb recombinant rabbit monoclonal antibodies here.

Read about Abcam’s Custom Solutions offering here.