Day: January 18, 2022

Boulder, Colo., Jan. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AGC Biologics, a leading global Biopharmaceutical Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), today announced Regina Choi-Rivera as the new General Manager of the company’s large-scale biopharmaceutical mammalian production facility in Boulder. In this role, she assumes executive oversight and leadership and will manage strategic development and facility operations.

“We’re incredibly excited that Ms. Choi-Rivera is joining AGC Biologics as the General Manager at our Boulder facility. She brings tremendous experience in both GMP manufacturing and project management,” said AGC Biologics Executive Vice President of U.S. Operations, J.D. Mowery. “Her breadth of knowledge and proven leadership give me great confidence that she is the right leader for our team, as well as our customers.”

Ms. Choi-Rivera brings more than 25 years of experience in the biotech industry to this role and joins AGC Biologics after working for Samsung Biologics for more than eight years. While at Samsung Biologics she most recently served as Vice President, Head of Drug Product Business Unit. Prior to that Ms. Choi-Rivera was Vice President, Head of the Drug Substance Contract Manufacturing Business unit. Before her time at Samsung, she spent nearly a decade with Janssen Pharmaceutical’s research and development division, supporting pilot plant operations and managing outsourcing activities. Her background, expertise and education make her an ideal leader for this important facility in AGC Biologics’ expansive global network.

“I am delighted to join AGC Biologics at such an exciting time of growth for the company and at such a transformational time for our industry,” said Choi-Rivera. “The strong track record of biopharmaceutical innovation and technical capabilities at this facility, coupled with world-class talent, puts the Boulder site in position to help deliver important treatments that can truly change the lives of patients for years to come.”

AGC Biologics acquired the Boulder Facility in June 2020, giving the company additional capacity and a significantly larger production scale for mammalian-based projects in the U.S. The Boulder site houses two 20,000-liter stainless steel cell bioreactors and has more than twenty acres of undeveloped land, creating opportunities for future expansion, including space for up to four more 20,000-liter bioreactors. The facility’s automation and cost-effective capabilities make it well-suited for high volume commercial production and high titer antibody processes.

About AGC Biologics
AGC Biologics is a leading global biopharmaceutical Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) with a strong commitment to delivering the highest standard of service as we work side-by-side with our clients and partners, every step of the way. We provide world-class development and manufacture of mammalian and microbial-based therapeutic proteins, plasmid DNA (pDNA), messenger RNA (mRNA), viral vectors, and genetically engineered cells. Our global network spans the U.S., Europe, and Asia, with cGMP-compliant facilities in Seattle, Washington; Boulder and Longmont, Colorado; Copenhagen, Denmark; Heidelberg, Germany; Milan, Italy; and Chiba, Japan and we currently employ more than 2,000 employees worldwide. Our commitment to continuous innovation fosters the technical creativity to solve our clients’ most complex challenges, including specialization in fast-track projects and rare diseases. AGC Biologics is the partner of choice. To learn more, visit www.agcbio.com.

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• Regina Choi-Rivera, AGC Biologics

Nick McDonald
AGC Biologics
(425) 419-3555
nmcdonald@agc.com

New huNOG-EXL EA Model Extends Study Windows Significantly

RENSSELAER, N.Y., Jan. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Taconic Biosciences, a global leader in providing drug discovery animal model solutions, announces the launch of the huNOG-EXL EA (Early Access) humanized immune system (HIS) mouse. This product expands Taconic’s widely used HIS portfolio. huNOG-EXL EA significantly lengthens the study window during which a myeloid-lineage HIS mouse model can be used successfully.

Taconic’s huNOG-EXL models support human myeloid and lymphoid cells, making these mice especially useful for immuno-oncology research and other immune-related applications. With the longest lifespan of any myeloid-supportive HIS model, the original huNOG-EXL model (now called huNOG-EXL SA, or Standard Access) has been successfully applied in preclinical drug discovery research since 2016. The huNOG-EXL SA model is provided after a quality control step at 10 weeks post-engraftment. Feedback from users suggests research applications requiring particularly long study timelines or importation into regions with long quarantine periods present experimental and logistical hurdles that can limit the utility of the Standard Access (SA) model.

The new huNOG-EXL EA model removes those challenges by providing access to huNOG-EXL mice soon after engraftment, extending the useful study window. This makes the huNOG-EXL EA ideal for engraftment of slow-growing tumors, longer treatment paradigms, or various study customizations. Early access to an extended myeloid lineage model is also advantageous to researchers who face model importation quarantines, which would otherwise consume a significant portion of the useful study window for these mice. Because the huNOG-EXL EA model is shipped before an engraftment QC step is possible, it is made using cells from donors previously validated to engraft well so as to reduce the risk of engraftment failures.

“The huNOG-EXL EA model meets critical scientific needs for investigators performing immuno-oncology research or studying other immune-related diseases,” said Dr. Michael Seiler, vice president of commercial products at Taconic. “After conducting extensive research and development, along with rigorous beta testing with several industry partners, Taconic is excited to now offer the new model and expand the usefulness of this unique humanized mouse.”

To learn more about Taconic’s huNOG-EXL EA model, please contact us at 1-888-TACONIC (888-822-6642) in the US, +45 70 23 04 05 in Europe, or email info@taconic.com.

About Taconic Biosciences, Inc.

Taconic Biosciences is a fully licensed, global leader in genetically engineered rodent models and services. Founded in 1952, Taconic provides the best animal solutions so that customers can acquire, custom-generate, breed, precondition, test, and distribute valuable research models worldwide. Specialists in genetically engineered mouse and rat models, microbiome, immuno-oncology mouse models, and integrated model design and breeding services, Taconic operates three service laboratories and six breeding facilities in the U.S. and Europe, maintains distributor relationships in Asia and has global shipping capabilities to provide animal models almost anywhere in the world.

Media Contact:

Nancy J Sandy

CEO

608-332-6320

Nancy.Sandy@taconic.com

BlueSpace.ai enhances safety and performance in Autonomous Driving/ADAS with industry leading motion accuracy

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Jan. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BlueSpace.ai showcased its breakthrough 4D Predictive Perception technology at CES 2022. This perception software works with next generation 4D sensors – imaging radar or frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) LiDAR .  Key industry players such as Waymo, Mobileye and Aurora are already aggressively adopting next-gen 4D sensors. Given the price competitiveness and improving performance, CES 2022 highlighted the significant interest in imaging radar from across the AV industry. With abundance of hardware from leading Tier 1 suppliers and various start-ups, it’s timely that BlueSpace is showing its proprietary algorithm to accurately detect and predict the motion of all objects in a generalizable way – all on a single CPU, with no prior training and no dependence on HD mapping.

BlueSpace’s scalable solution is immediately deployable in any location.  It is also extremely flexible – working with any 4D sensor or a combination of imaging radar and FMCW LiDARs, and operates standalone or fits seamlessly into existing AV stacks.

Despite years of research and billions of dollars invested, current AV/ADAS systems still cannot handle some safety critical situations and endless edge cases. A recent report by McKinsey notes two key factors needed to accelerate autonomy:

• Lower the validation hurdle (cost and time):
  • Makes up 30-50% of AV development costs.  Culprits of driving up the cost include data collection and storage, simulation, testing, etc.
• Perception and prediction will need to be robust enough to handle endless edge cases in diverse ODDs to enable trucking, robotaxi, logistics autonomy

BlueSpace’s 4D Predictive Perception software addresses both effectively. If you weren’t able to make it to CES, here’s the link to their 4D Predictive Perception software.

While the industry still struggles chasing the long tail of edge cases, BlueSpace’s next-gen 4D perception is the missing piece that delivers the performance needed for safe commercialization of autonomy.

BlueSpace’s software enables perception accuracy and latency performance in a scalable way that wasn’t possible before:

• Provides full motion state of any object, with no prior training, in a single frame
• 10-100x improvements in motion accuracy compared to existing solutions
• Latency is only a fraction of other autonomy software
• Deployable on low cost general purpose embedded CPUs 

Experience BlueSpace’s 4D Predictive Perception – email partners@bluespace.ai for a demo. 

Read more about BlueSpace’s innovative technology in this blog post – Why BlueSpace? Why Now?

Listen to the founders via recent podcast: The Autonomous Vehicles Podcast

About BlueSpace.ai

BlueSpace.ai was founded in 2019 to solve the “black box” problem of perception and prediction in autonomous driving. The company is led by industry veterans who’ve launched autonomous vehicle services in Texas, California, and Florida. Joel Pazhayampallil (CEO), was previously a Co-founder of Drive.ai (now part of Apple self driving program), key contributor to General Motors’ SuperCruise highway autonomy technology, and graduate of the Stanford AI Lab.  Christine Moon, Co-founder, and President, has over 15 years of experience in Silicon Valley, formerly Head of Android Partnerships for the Google branded Nexus program, and has held various leadership roles at tech companies, including Dropbox and Color Genomics.

Reena Solomon

Director, Marketing and Strategy

contact@bluespace.ai

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• logo

January 18, 2021

• New capabilities on Philips Image Guided Therapy Mobile C-arm System – Zenition – and collaboration with Cydar offer the latest advances in endovascular treatment
• Partnership adds new innovations to the Zenition platform to elevate the clinical experience, enhance workflow efficiency and help improve patient outcomes

Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced physicians will now have access to advanced new 3D image guidance capabilities through its Image-Guided Therapy Mobile C-arm System – Zenition, delivering enhanced clinical accuracy and efficiency, and aiming to improve the outcomes for patients undergoing endovascular treatment. The company has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Cydar, a UK-based provider of cloud-based procedure maps software to plan and guide surgery in real time.

As patient numbers rise and procedures become more complex and time-consuming, patient-specific real-time procedure planning and guidance, optimization of equipment utilization, and usability have become ever more important. To help overcome these challenges, Philips Image-Guided Therapy Mobile C-arm System – Zenition – brings together innovations in image capture and processing, ease-of-use, and versatility, many of which were pioneered on Philips’ highly successful image guided therapy platform Azurion. Like Azurion, the Zenition mobile C-arm system allows hospitals to maximize operating room performance, enhance their clinical capabilities, and provide staff with a seamless user experience. The integration of Cydar EV Maps software into the Zenition platform now adds extended procedure planning and real-time 3D guidance capabilities.

Cloud-based AI and computer vision
Cydar EV Maps assists in the planning, real-time guidance, and post procedure review of endovascular surgery. It brings cloud-based AI and computer vision to mobile surgery, enabling reductions in radiation exposure, fluoroscopy time, and procedure time together with improved ease of use [1,2]. It enables surgeons to create a detailed patient-specific 3D map of the target vasculature to help plan surgery, and then uses these maps to augment intraoperative live image-guidance, updating the maps in real time to account for deformations during surgery, such as guidewires and instruments deforming the patient’s blood vessels. Cydar EV also facilitates post procedure outcome analysis. The combined result of this integration of procedure planning, guidance and review is that surgeons can work more accurately and efficiently – enabling an approximate 50% reduction in radiation exposure [1], a significant reduction in fluoroscopy time and a reduction of procedure times by more than 20% [2], while helping achieve better outcomes for patients.

“With Philips’ integrated portfolio, using validated AI and cloud technologies, we can facilitate collaborative care to optimize surgical pathways,” said Karim Boussebaa, General Manager Image Guided Therapy Systems at Philips. “Philips has a strong global network of mobile surgery systems and recognizes that Cydar’s EV Maps solution can play a key role in further improving our integrated offering for endovascular procedures.”

“By partnering with Philips to bring our Cydar EV Maps solution to Philips’ user-friendly Zenition platform of mobile C-arms, we are a step closer to achieving our mission to ensure every image-guided minimally-invasive surgical procedure goes exactly as planned,” said Paul Mussenden, CEO of Cydar. “The benefits of this combined solution, with integrated and enhanced procedure planning and visualization, include shorter and more predictable procedure times, reduced X-ray exposure to patients and staff, and fewer injections of iodine dye – the leading cause of in-hospital kidney failure.”

Cydar EV Maps is currently in use across the EU, UK and US. It is certified Software-as-a-Medical Device with EU CE mark and U.S. FDA 510(k) clearances.

[1] Southerland K, Nag U, Turner M, Gilmore B, McCann R, Long C, Cox M, Shortell C. IF09. Image-Based Three-Dimensional Fusion Computed Tomography Decreases Radiation Exposure, Fluoroscopy Time, and Procedure Time During Endovascular Aortic Aneurysm Repair. J Vasc Surg. 2018;67: e61-e61
[2] Shortell C., Veith Symposium New York, 2017

For further information, please contact:

Joost Maltha
Philips Global Press Office
Tel: +31 6 10 55 8116
Email: joost.maltha@philips.com

Fabienne van der Feer
Philips Image Guided Therapy
Tel: + 31 622 698 001
E-mail: fabienne.van.der.feer@philips.com

About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum – from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2020 sales of EUR 17.3 billion and employs approximately 78,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

About Cydar
Cydar Limited specializes in medical computer vision, machine learning and cloud high-performance computing.  Cydar EV is a cloud-based software platform that generates patient specific 3D Maps of soft tissue vasculature to support more effective image guided, minimally invasive endovascular surgery. The system comprises pre-operative procedure planning functionality and real time, AI enabled 3D intra-operative imaging and procedure guidance, with procedure video capture and post procedure review functions.
Cydar EV Maps harnesses the latest in cloud GPU computing, computer vision and machine learning technology to advance surgical visualization and decision-making in theatre and across the surgical pathway. Cydar’s Surgical Intelligence system is learning from every case to develop a deeper understanding of surgery.
Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Cydar’s focus is to build a future where all patients benefit from augmented surgical intelligence.  Cydar EV Maps is the first product from Cydar’s Intelligent Maps system.

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• Philips Zention mobile C-arm platform vascular application
• Cydar EV Maps