CatSci Ltd, an award-winning innovation partner for medicines development, is thrilled to announce the opening of its new state-of-the-art oligonucleotides laboratory. This is the second space CatSci has dedicated to oligonucleotide development, demonstrating CatSci’s commitment to accelerating the development of cutting-edge novel RNA and DNA-based therapeutics.
This exciting development follows on from the award of a prestigious SMART Capital Equipment grant from the Welsh Government, which CatSci successfully achieved through a highly competitive bid process. This grant provided significant support in obtaining state-of-the-art high throughput synthesis, deprotection and purification equipment, which CatSci will use to introduce novel workflows for the rapid production of vast numbers of oligos at a scale optimised for rapid screening. This will enable the discovery and innovation of novel RNA and DNA-based therapeutics in the quickest and most efficient manner, delivering improved value for our customers and their patients.
A key component of the new workflow is a new fully-automated synthesiser, optimised to create large pools of candidate sequences (up to 384 per run) in as little as 8 hours. Using these workflows, CatSci can reduce the time required for a screening campaign using traditional synthesis techniques from around 2,500 hours to as little as 104 hours (a 95% saving in time and associated operating costs). This enhancement underlines CatSci’s focus on accelerating biotherapeutics innovation and delivering enhanced outcomes for its customers.
To support these investments, CatSci has also taken the opportunity to transform its largest laboratory space into a centre of excellence for oligonucleotide development. The establishment of this new lab is a major milestone for CatSci and represents the most ambitious building programme the company has undertaken to date. The original catalysis lab has been extensively remodelled to create efficient working spaces for existing and new capabilities. All-new utilities and services have been installed, and modern infrastructure and plant introduced to provide the best possible conditions for CatSci’s development activities. There has been a strong emphasis on future-proofing, particularly in terms of data integration and supporting future technological advancements.
The new space will provide CatSci with the flexibility and capacity to harness emerging tools and innovations, ensuring continued excellence in supporting customer projects across the life sciences sector. The discovery and optimisation process to develop novel combinatorial therapies will require large pools of both small molecules and oligonucleotides, and CatSci’s novel workflows and new laboratories are ideally suited to provide them in the most agile and sustainable manner.
CatSci prioritised environmental sustainability during the construction of the new oligonucleotide lab, implementing many innovative measures to reduce the environmental impact both from the construction and ongoing operations. In particular, laboratory extract has been optimised to enhance environmental performance, and wherever possible materials and fixtures were reused to reduce waste sent to landfill. These initiatives are projected to reduce CatSci’s carbon emissions by over 8,000 kg annually, and the entire facility will now be able to operate using only clean, carbon-free renewable electricity.
Dr Andy Wood, CatSci’s Head of Workplace and Infrastructure Projects, said: “This has been the most complex building programme CatSci has undertaken, involving stripping our original catalysis lab back to a shell and creating a new space fitted-out to modern standards with all-new or upgraded services and utilities. As a scientist myself, I recognise the needs of both the new processes and our scientists, and making sure that this space delivers everything needed to perform world-class biotherapeutic research was central to our planning and delivery. The new space will also allow CatSci to embrace emerging technological innovations including machine-learning and artificial intelligence, enabling our researchers to continue operating at the cutting edge of scientific development.”
Andy added: “Managing such a major programme of works over several months without impacting ongoing operations was a key challenge, which was successfully achieved using agile approaches and strong cross-functional integration. I am particularly proud of both the enhanced infrastructure (which is both perfect for purpose, and future proofed to support future technological advancements), and the high level of environmental sustainability which was successfully incorporated into the programme. Very little waste was generated from the building works, and the enhanced ventilation plant will enable CatSci to reduce our CO2 emissions by over 8,000 kg each year, with the whole building now able to use clean, carbon-free renewable electricity.”
The new oligonucleotide lab is poised to enhance CatSci’s ability to address the growing demand for RNA therapies, contributing to the future of healthcare and transforming the treatment of diseases with complex, synthetic, and biotherapeutic solutions.
CatSci Ltd will be holding a free in-person conference dedicated to championing the excellence in UK Oligonucleotide Innovation. You can learn more and sign up here: Free Oligos Event: UK Innovation: The Future of RNA Therapeutics – CatSci
