Green Elephant Biotech has secured an INNOWWIDE market feasibility grant from the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). The grant funds a feasibility study, “Automation4MSC”, running from July to December 2026 to assess Green Elephant Biotech’s Archimedes® One automated cultivation platform for mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) manufacturing, and its readiness for the U.S. market. The technical evaluation will be carried out by RoosterBio (Frederick, Maryland) as part of its development service offerings.
Who is involved
The project is led by Green Elephant Biotech. Dr. Joel Eichmann, CTO and co-founder, directs the work, with Dr. Katharina Günther, Head of Biology and Applications, coordinating.
The technical evaluation is conducted by RoosterBio (Frederick, Maryland) as a development service. Founded in 2013, RoosterBio has supported hundreds of MSC developers with reagents, protocols, and analytical services. Its process and analytical development team has evaluated and built robust workflows leveraging bioprocessing platforms ranging from flasks and stacks to fixed-bed and stirred-tank bioreactors, and works with MSC and extracellular vesicles bioprocesses, in-process monitoring, and flow cytometry panels used across the U.S. and global cell therapy fields.
The challenge
MSCs are widely studied in regenerative medicine for their ability to support tissue repair and influence inflammation, but most manufacturing still depends on manual adherent cultivation in standard laboratory flasks. This is difficult to standardize, labor-intensive, and hard to scale consistently. Most automated systems on the market are built for suspension formats leaving a clear gap for automated adherent solutions that may preserve native MSC biology while improving reproducibility and cost efficiency.
The approach
Green Elephant Biotech had already established process parameters for manual CellScrew® cultivation of different cell lines. The study builds on that baseline to test whether the process can be automated on Archimedes® One, Green Elephant Biotech’s dynamic bioreactor designed to automate CellScrew® cultivation on standard biocontroller hardware common in bioprocessing labs, under real laboratory conditions.
The work plan includes running and documenting automated MSC expansion, monitoring morphology, confluence, and culture health throughout, and analyzing final cell yield, viability, and identity markers. Green Elephant Biotech will benchmark results against conventional adherent workflows to assess technical advantages and how easily the automated process integrates into existing lab routines without requiring major workflow changes.
Green Elephant Biotech will also perform a market feasibility assessment for the United States, examining user needs, adoption barriers, and opportunities across key regenerative medicine hubs, alongside workflow preferences, purchasing behavior, and the competitive landscape. Technical findings will be discussed in a synthesis workshop to inform bioprocessing recommendations
Timeline
The project runs from July to December 2026. The technical evaluation and market feasibility assessment will be carried out at RoosterBio’s U.S. facility, while Green Elephant Biotech compiles data to produce a feasibility assessment.
Interested in automated adherent cultivation for your own MSC or EV workflow? Get in touch with our team to discuss the Archimedes® One platform directly at info@greenebt.com or via greenelephantbiotech.com.
