Qkine

Qkine is on a mission to advance stem cell, organoid and regenerative medicine by re-defining industry standards for growth factor and cytokine biochemical quality, which are essential reagents for the sector. Based on proprietary technology developed in the laboratory of Dr Marko Hyvönen, research group leader at the University of Cambridge, Qkine develops and manufactures recombinant growth factors, cytokines and other novel proteins. Along with setting a new benchmark for protein purity, Qkine uses innovative protein engineering techniques to tackle fundamental biological and scalability challenges that are holding back the stem cell and regenerative medicine sector; for example, recent projects have included the development of optimised R-spondins to replace conditioned media for organoid culture. To give stem cell scientists peace of mind, Qkine manufactures its proteins in a dedicated animal-derived component free (ADCF) laboratory and defines very strict and robust quality criteria, with rigorous purity and bioactivity testing conducted on every batch. After securing seed funding from Cambridge Enterprise and a quintet of angels in April 2018, as well as being awarded grants by Innovate UK amongst others, the company's client portfolio has grown rapidly to include leading academic institutions and biotech companies, in addition to attracting interest from multinational pharmaceutical organisations.