Qkine secures global collaboration with Sartorius

Cambridge startup Qkine, which makes animal-free, highly bioactive and innovative proteins, is collaborating with German company Sartorius – a global life science group – to supply growth factors and cytokines for stem cell and organoid research as part of a comprehensive workflow solution.

Qkine animal-free growth factors and cytokines will be provided as part of Sartorius’s rapidly expanding stem cell research portfolio that includes cutting-edge equipment and high-performance reagents. 

Customers will also have access to application data for the use of these products with different cell types on Sartorius instrumentation for live-cell imaging and analysis. 

Qkine and Sartorius are committed to advancing scientific research and empowering scientists with the tools they need to make rapid breakthroughs in fields such as regenerative medicine and drug discovery, where stem cell models are at the forefront of innovation.  

Catherine Elton, CEO and co-founder of Qkine, said: “Sartorius has an excellent reputation in the market for supporting scientists working with complex cell models with cutting-edge tools. 

“We also have shared values on the importance of providing our customers with quality products that enable them to maximise the impact of their research. 

“This is an excellent collaboration to combine Qkine high-purity growth factors and cytokines with Sartorius’ complementary product portfolio to support advances in stem cell and organoid science.”

Fiona Coats, head of marketing at Sartorius’ Lab Products and Services division, added: “Our goal at Sartorius has always been to simplify progress in life science research by bringing our customers end-to-end workflow solutions for core and emerging applications. 

“We’re embracing the promise of advanced culture systems for disease modelling and expanding our portfolio to support this rapidly growing field. We want to provide not just the tools and reagents but also the validation data scientists need to drive their research forward with confidence.”  

Sartorius is a leading provider of laboratory solutions for life science research and drug discovery. Its cell analysis portfolio includes reagents, assays, and enabling instrument technologies, such as live-cell imaging and automated cell culture, for biologics discovery, cell line development and advanced cell model applications.