ABOUT

Established in 2020, Copner Biotech is a biotechnology company based in Ebbw Vale, Wales, with its focus in 3D cell culture and associated technologies. What started as an initial concept of next generation 3D printing technology, has gone from strength to strength, creating an impressive portfolio of technologies, products and services to the 3D cell culture markets.

Traditionally, mammalian cells are grown in a 2-dimensional environment, such as petri dishes, but this is not without its setbacks, namely the forced polarity that cells undergo due to the nature of the culture environment.

Cells grown 3-dimensionally exhibit more physiologically relevant characteristics.

Copner Biotech's state of the art design and manufacturing process enables 3D cell culture scaffolds to be produced based on concentric shape constructs, such as circles, providing a consistent variability of pore size (heterogenous pore size and distribution) emanating from the centre to the periphery of scaffold.

The effect is to provide clear regions of the scaffold where cells will have more favourable nutrient and oxygen exchange (periphery)and areas not so (centre). Such constructs better represents physiological conditions in the body providing tangible experimental advantages for research in fields studying cell microenvironments.

Mission

In the long term, Copner Biotech will ultimately aim to establish a foothold in the bioprinting market. We will do this via innovative, industrial collaborations with like-minded companies already in this space, utilising our novel technology. We continue to work upon and develop our existing technologies, in the software and 3D printing hardware space, to create competitive products.

GRAPE UK® Data Format and method of 3D Modelling

Our novel and proprietary GRAPE UK® 3D modelling format enables users to model and print highly precise 3D constructs, with high batch-to-batch consistency.

With our next generation 3D modelling software, users can design and create complex, microarchitectures directly applicable to 3D cell culture and tissue engineering applications; for example the cultivation and subsequent convenient extraction of spheroids.

Spheroids are a type of three-dimensional cell modeling that better simulate a live cell's environmental; specifically regarding the reactions between cells and between cells and the matrix.

The efficacy of an original scaffold design has been the subject of a collaboration project with Swansea University realising fantastic cell culture results. These scaffolds are now available through life sciences vendors Appleton Woods (UK and Ireland), Lucerna-Chem AG (Swiss) and ISOGEN Life Science (Benelux and Spain).

Copner Biotech are working with researchers at Cardiff University School of Biosciences to validate our 3D PETG scaffolds when applied to novel forms of microscopy research.
This collaboration will further establish our 3D PETG scaffold capabilities to be at the forefront of 3D cell culture technology.

GRAPE UK® Data Format and method of 3D Printing

Bioprinting is the 3D printing of biological materials, which may also be laden with mammalian cells. The predominant use of bioprinting is the production of tissue like structures for drug testing, with more and more large companies looking towards this technology as an alternative to animal testing.

Copner Biotech’s novel approach to bioprinting couples microfluidic droplet deposition with raster-style, sequential printer head movement.

This method of deposition is firstly optimised to the user’s own BioINK via our, ‘droplet optimisation protocol’ before users can print personalised 3D constructs.

Microfluidic droplet deposition performed in this manner unlocks a new level of precision and control during the bioprinting process.

GRAPE M1 Modelling Software Launch : Copner Biotech's GRAPE M1 3D modelling software comes bundled on purchasing any of our bio printers; for example GRAPE S1. GRAPE M1 outputs 3D models in both GRAPE and STL model data formats enabling GRAPE technology to be applied to and potentially improve the perfomance of third party 3D bio printers. GRAPE M1 is now available as a standalone product to purchase.

Smart Cymru Innovation Award Collaboration

Copner Biotech completes collaboration with Jellagen part funded with a SMART Cymru Innovation Award of £123,724.
Jellagen world leaders in Marine Biotechnologies having developed an innovative BioINK based on Jellyfish Collagen Type 0 that was successfully printed with the Next Generation 3D Bio Printer GRAPE S1 developed by Copner Biotech

Innovate UK Innovation Award Collaboration

Copner Biotech announces collaboration with Jellagen part funded by a Innovate UK Award of £431,142. Jellagen world leaders in Marine Biotechnologies developing an innovative BioINK based on Jellyfish Collagen Type 0 to be printed with the Next Generation 3D Inkjet Bio Printer developed by Copner Biotech.

3D Inkjet Bio Printer will be developed following the blueprint disclosed in our patent 'Additive Manufacturing using Low Viscosity Materials' UK Intellectual Property Office application GB2206780.5 together with International application PCT/GB2022/000051.

Inline with Copner Biotech's family of 3D Bio Printers; this Inkjet printer will employ the GRAPE UK® data format and printing control algorithms.

October 2022 Copner Biotech and Jellagen begin collaborative work on this exciting 19 month Innovate UK part funded project; with both companies committed to establishing a bio printing centre of excellence in Wales.

MediWales Innovation Start-Up Award 2022

Copner Biotech attends the MediWales 2022 Innovation Awards ceremony in Cardiff and were proud to walk away with the prestigious Innovation Start-Up Award.

On receiving this award we looked back on our achievements over the last year both in terms of high growth and ground breaking innovation; culminating in this recognition from MediWales.