RoosterBio Inc. Announces Winners of 2020 hMSC Development Grants


We are very pleased to support hMSC-based methods and applications in Genetic Engineering by enabling a rapid and efficient path to generate key cellular raw materials and scale up manufacturing, leading to shortened timelines on research and clinical translation. – RoosterBio CEO Margot Connor

RoosterBio, a leading supplier of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (hMSC) working cell banks and hMSC bioprocess systems, announced the 2020 Winners of our RoosterBio Development Award. This program empowers investigators who share our common goals in emerging applications of hMSCs and supports their supply chain industrialization for regenerative medicine’s next generation of clinical breakthroughs. Specifically, this award will advance novel research in hMSC-based genetic engineering, therapeutically applied synthetic biology, and translational science focus areas. Each awardee will receive up to $12,000 in requested RoosterBio’s hMSC and bioprocess media products in support of their respective proposed projects.

This year’s award recipients and projects include:


  • (PI) Rebekah Samsonraj, PhD – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Chris Nelson, PhD – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, “Gene editing to improve MSC scalability for future biomanufacturing”
  • Dr. Raphael P. H. Meier, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Surgery – Transplant Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, “Anti-inflammatory role of mesenchymal stem cells in liver diseases”
  • Tracey Bonfield, PhD, D(ABMLI) – Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, “Development of RoosterBio hMSCs for lung infection and inflammation”
  • Tomas Gonzalez-Fernandez, PhD – American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellow & (PI) J. Kent Leach, PhD – Professor Biomedical Engineering, University of California – Davis, “Non-viral gene modification of hMSCs for the overexpression of nerve growth factor to promote innervation and vascularization for the repair of diabetic bone fractures”

RoosterBio first launched the hMSC Development Grant in 2018 to engage the cell therapy research community with standardized, highly engineered hMSC bioprocess systems. These systems have built-in design to streamline not just product development, but also to accelerate manufacturing processes for projects en route to early-stage clinical development. The RoosterBio hMSC Development Grant thus aims to cultivate an industry-academic collaborative platform for promotion of future breakthroughs in hMSCs as a plug and play “chassis” for programmable gene circuits that express potent, safe, reliable and robust therapeutic effectors.

For the year 2020, this award was geared toward genetic engineering due to prolifically expanding scientific interest in gene-edited cell-based therapies. “hMSC-based methods and applications in Genetic Engineering is an emerging field at the forefront of innovative and highly translatable hMSC therapeutic research.” said RoosterBio CEO Margot Connor. “We are very pleased to support this field by enabling a rapid and efficient path to generate key cellular raw materials and scale up manufacturing, leading to shortened timelines on research and clinical translation.”

About RoosterBio, Inc

RoosterBio, Inc. is a privately held cell manufacturing platform technology company focused on accelerating the development of a sustainable Regenerative Medicine industry, one customer at a time. RoosterBio’s products are high-volume, affordable, and well-characterized adult human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hMSCs) paired with highly engineered media systems. RoosterBio has simplified and standardized how living cells are purchased, expanded, and used in development, leading to marked time and costs savings for customers. RoosterBio’s innovative products are ushering in a new era of productivity and standardization into the field. Visit http://www.roosterbio.com.

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