Hitachi, Ltd and ThinkCyte, Inc. announced that they have entered into a collaboration focused on developing an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cell analysis and sorting system. Hitachi and ThinkCyte are promoting collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and research institutes working in the field of regenerative medicine and cell therapy to expedite the development of the system toward commercialization.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, ThinkCyte, is a biotechnology company that develops life science research, diagnostics, and treatments using integrated multidisciplinary technologies. It has been performing research and development focused on high-throughput single cell analysis and sorting technology to precisely analyze and isolate target cells. ThinkCyte has developed the Ghost Cytometry technology to achieve high-throughput and high-content single cell sorting and has been conducting collaborative research projects with multiple pharmaceutical companies and research institutes to utilize this technology in life science and medical fields.

Hitachi has been providing large-scale automated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell culture equipment, cell processing facilities (CPFs), manufacturing execution systems(MES), and biosafety cabinets among other products to pharmaceutical companies and research institutes, and has developed a value chain to meet a variety of customer needs in the regenerative medicine and cell therapy industry. Hitachi has also been carrying out collaborative research projects with universities, research institutes, and other companies to develop core technologies for pharmaceutical manufacturing instruments and in vitro diagnostic medical devices, prototyping for mass production, and working on manufacturing cost reduction and the development of stable and reliable instruments.

Hitachi and ThinkCyte have initiated a joint development of the AI-driven cell analysis and sorting system based on their respective technologies, expertise, and know-how. By combining ThinkCyte's high-throughput and high-content label-free single cell sorting technology and Hitachi's know-how and capability to producing stably operative instruments on a large scale, the two companies will together develop a novel reliable system to enable high-speed label-free cell isolation with high accuracy, which has been difficult to achieve with the existing cell sorting techniques, and to realize stable, low-cost and large-scale production of cells for regenerative medicine and cell therapy.

Hitachi and ThinkCyte will further advance partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and research institutes that have been developing and manufacturing regenerative medicines and cell therapy products in Japan and other countries where demand is expected to be significant, such as North America, in order to make this technology a platform for the production of regenerative medicines and cell therapy products.

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Hitachi and ThinkCyte to Develop an AI-driven Cell Analysis | ARC Advisory - ARC Viewpoints