Rousselot and Gelomics to Create Ready-to-Use 3D Cell Culture Kits

Earlier this year, Rousselot Biomedical, a strategic segment established within Darling Ingredients (NYSE: DAR) in 2018, launched a cobranding program to pair its own expertise in biomedical gelatins with some of the top biotechnology companies in order to speed up the development of new medical devices and medicines. The latest cobranding partner in the program is Australia-based Gelomics, which provides fully integrated 3D cell, organoid, and tissue culture technologies. Together, the two will work to create what Rousselot says will be the world’s first ready-to-use 3D cell culture kits based on its X-PURE GelMA material.

“The broad uptake of modern 3D cell culture techniques in biomedical R&D has been slowed down by a lack of easy-to-use and reproducible biomaterials that enable cells to grow and behave in a physiological manner,” Christoph Meinert, the CEO of Gelomics, said in a press release. “We are pleased to partner with Rousselot Biomedical to overcome these limitations and provide the world’s first, ready-to-use 3D cell culture kits based on Rousselot Biomedical’s X-Pure GelMA.”

Rousselot, which is Darling Ingredients’ Health Brand, is dedicated to the advancement of medical science, and got its start developing ultra-pure collagen and gelatin solutions for biomedical applications, including regenerative medicines, vaccines, and hemostats. Now, it is a world leader in collagen-based solutions, and works with many industries, biomedical research companies, and startups that are looking for a medical-grade gelatin with excellent purity for in-body and research applications. Both its X-PURE and QUALI-PURE gelatin ranges are backed by strong scientific data and continuing research, but X-PURE GelMA, or gelatin methacryloyl, is what Gelomics will use with its LunaGel 3D Tissue Culture System.

“We are proud to partner with Gelomics, who share our passion and commitment to quality and collaboration. Leveraging the consistency and purity of X-Pure GelMA, the LunaGel X-Pure products offer Gelomics’ customers an easy-to-use solution for creating the optimal experimental conditions for cell culture,” explained Tanja Vervust, Director Rousselot Biomedical.

LunaGel, which is Gelomics’ first product series, is a photocrosslinkable cell culture system that replicates the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) which surrounds cells in the body. This means researchers can use the system to actually grow 3D microscopic tissues, instead of cells on plastic surfaces. The company prides itself on speeding up biomedical R&D by helping researchers and scientists grow human-like tissues in the lab that can improve cell-based research; this also helps decrease the requirements for experiments on animals, which is always good.

Image courtesy of Gelomics

Gelatin methacrylate in general is used in many 3D bioprinting, 3D cell culture, and tissue engineering applications, due to its bioactivity and tuneability. Like LunaGel, Rousselot’s X-PURE GelMA is also photocrosslinkable, and is its own ECM. This biomaterial is ultra-pure (<10 Endotoxin Units (EU)/g), which means it can be used for very sensitive biomedical and pharmaceutical applications—including advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP)—and is said to be the first GelMA produced under GMP conditions.

Using a GelMA hydrogel enables the formation of 3D architectures that are stable at body temperature, and you can customize X-PURE GelMA’s rheological properties by changing the gelatin molecular weight and the number of crosslinks between gelatin protein chains, which makes it an extremely versatile hydrogel for drug delivery systems and 3D cell culture.

The methacrylamide side groups are photo crosslinked in the presence of a photo initiator and UV or visible light, creating a viscoelastic gelatin network. The degree of modification (number of methacrylamide side groups) and molecular weight can be tuned for different biomedical applications.

Thanks to its cobranding partnership with Rousselot, Gelomics’ new LunaGel X-PURE GelMA product series will supposedly be the first premium, ultra-pure GelMA available in an easy-to-use format, and will be available as ready-to-use kits in both high and low stiffness formulations.

Images courtesy of Rousselot, unless otherwise noted.

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