Antleron

🔦 In today's episode of our Fellow Friday series, we shine a light on Britt Van Ballaer, ATMP Research & Development Architect: “Since 2021, the biolab at Antleron is my habitat where we delve deeper into how the performance of cell cultures is influenced by customized bioreactor conditions. By developing high-quality bioprocess concepts that are digitally tunable and economically viable, we contribute to a scalable, sustainable and personalized healthcare.”

Britt Van Ballaer: “I especially like the combination of hands-on lab work with innovative experimental design and the complementarity between biotech and engineering sciences.” 💉🧬🦠

Read complete Fellow Friday story 👉 https://www.antleron.com/post/britt-van-ballaer-develops-bioreactor-systems-in-support-of-scalable-bioprocesses-and-next-generatio

It is Fellow Friday, and this time we are putting the entire team in the spotlight!

Our Antleron Fellows constitute a vibrant, multidisciplinary team of innovators that serves as the driving force of our organization. Our custom end-to-end scientific approach and proprietary technologies empower biomedical and biotechnology stakeholders to develop innovative, scalable and sustainable bioprocesses by generating unique data from R&D to GMP.

Beyond our intense daily collaboration and a relentless innovation drive, we foster a creative and friendly work environment. We regularly engage in brainstorming sessions to explore bioprocess innovation opportunities and indulge in enjoyable after-work activities.

To discover more about our Fellows, read this week’s brief Fellow Friday article:

Our Antleron Fellows: a vibrant, multidisciplinary team of scientists Our Antleron Fellows constitute a vibrant, multidisciplinary team of innovators that serves as the driving force of our organization. Our Fellows, who originate from seven countries, are experts in biology, (bio)engineering, (bio)materials, (bio)medical, chemistry, computer science, and quality and....

Earlier this month, on September 1, the new Flanders – Netherlands CrossRoads call for projects was launched. Symbolically, the inaugural event took place on the river Meuse, which meanders between both Dutch-speaking regions. The representative of the Flemish Minister of Economy and innovation, Jo Brouns, joined Elleen Theeuwes (chairwoman CrossRoads) and Bram de Kort (director Interreg Flanders-Netherlands) for the inauguration.

Re-experience the Crossroads event (incl. pictures and video): https://bit.ly/45U88bi

From September onwards, Flemish and Dutch SMEs will be able to submit proposals for innovative projects in sustainable entrepreneurship and energy, industry 4.0 and health.
More info and how to respond to CrossRoads project call: https://bit.ly/3PiFYQ3

Antleron CEO Jan Schrooten and Vivolta CEO ai Ramon Solberg were also present at the event to give a practical example of an interregional collaboration and the benefits of cross-border expertise exchanges for regenerative medicine.

Seeking PhD Candidates! Join us in redefining the gene therapy landscape!

Antleron proudly partners with the Marie Skłodowska-Curie GET-IN Doctoral Network, addressing crucial knowledge gaps hindering gene therapy adoption. The network unites international academic and industry partners, fostering collaboration through diverse projects that nurture the next generation of gene therapy innovators.

Are you ready to embark on an ambitious innovation journey that will shape the future of gene therapy? The GET-IN network is actively seeking PhD candidates who possess the passion and determination to drive change in this field. By taking part in the activities of the Antleron team, you will focus on advancing upstream processing techniques for gene therapies. The two available projects are:

1. Viral vector production: tackling bottlenecks in efficiency and reproducibility.
2. Digital twin and multi-parametric optimisation of upstream unit operations for rAAV manufacturing.

Our innovative tools, including bioreactors, in silico process modeling, digital twins, and more, will empower you to make groundbreaking research contributions.

Learn more about GET-IN and its mission at www.get-in.org
Explore exciting PhD positions in collaboration with Antleron on our dedicated careers page at https://bit.ly/44J2rwa

Dieter Hauwaerts brings strategic and operational ATMP excellence to the Antleron team. He is co-founder of Antleron and has acquired an impressive track record with leading pharma and biotech companies. Dieter shares his experience with the Antleron fellows to increase Antleron’s operational quality and efficiency, and strengthen its late-stage development capabilities. This will enable Antleron to more profoundly partner with leading international biotech stakeholders in jointly fast-tracking ATMP innovation to the patient. To clear his head, Dieter is active in various sports and outdoor activities. Read complete article:

Dieter Hauwaerts brings strategic and operational ATMP excellence to the Antleron team Recently, Dieter Hauwaerts actively rejoined and strengthens the Antleron team. Dieter Hauwaerts: "My aim is to help define business strategies and put quality first in operations, targeting bioprocess development and GMP in a commercial context. We focus on embedding operational quality and efficie...

Today, we finally introduce Maarten Sonnaert, Antleron’s first employee and currently our chief of operations. In this Fellow Friday, Maarten explains how he arrived on the pioneering and entrepreneurial journey with Antleron.

Maarten shares some insights into how his role has evolved within the company and the value of an open company culture in reaching innovation goals. Probably equally important is what Maarten is doing when you can’t reach him by phone or mail... Read story:

Maarten Sonnaert guides the Antleron team along its innovation-driven growth path When not orchestrating the day-to-day operations and technology development at Antleron, Maarten Sonnaert can be found traversing wilderness areas all around the globe. Last year he led a hiking group in icy Greenland. Maarten, currently the COO of Antleron, was in fact the first employee to join th...

Antleron ranked No 8 among the fastest growing, small enterprises in Flemish-Brabant according to Trends! We are also the only biotech listed in this category.

The Trends Gazellen ranking is based on hard data: growth in added value, personnel and cash-flow. This nomination is a signal to us that our collaborative development model is gaining traction in the biotech sector.

It is a pleasure to stand among the other companies driving innovation and job creation in Belgium. It also fills us with pride to have represented a key sector of the Belgian economy – biotech. With our unique technology toolbox, we’ll keep on creating bioprocess innovation partnerships in the life science industry.

Congratulations to all the nominees and thanks to the organizers for taking the initiative to boost the Belgian entrepreneurs by recognizing the hard work they are doing to create value for society.

More about Antleron -> https://www.antleron.com/
Trends methodology -> https://lnkd.in/e35jzNPh
More about Trends Gazellen -> https://trendsgazellen.be/

Registration for the HealthTech Summit is open! Make sure to get a spot and join Antleron and many other companies in Leuven.
Registration -> http://bit.ly/3JRXQQy

The Leuven-based event, brought by MEDVIA and Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant, will continue facilitating the exchange of ideas in the latest cross-over innovations in medicine and health.

More info -> https://bit.ly/3Q85rvn

Some more happy 2023 news that give us a boost to keep working hard on healthcare innovations! We are proud to share that Antleron is nominated for the 2023 Flemish-Brabant Trends Gazellen award.

The Trends Gazellen award fast growing companies, forming an essential part of the Belgian economic landscape by driving innovation and job creation. We are honored to stand among these Belgian entrepreneurs, working hard to create value for society.

Funny coincidence, the fast-growing antlers are distant cousins to the horns that gazelles carry 😉

More about Antleron -> https://www.antleron.com/
More about Trends Gazellen -> https://trendsgazellen.be/

To kick off the New Year, we have some exciting news to share. 2023 will bring Life on Chip back in a new form – HealthTech Summit! The conference is returning for a 5th edition to examine the current state and the future of collaborative innovation and we are happy to co-organize for a consecutive, 5th year.

The Leuven-based event, brought by MEDVIA and Smart Hub Vlaams-Brabant, will continue facilitating the exchange of ideas in the latest cross-over innovations in medicine and health in key topics, such as:
- Value-based healthcare
- Personalized medicine
- Disruptive innovations
- Medical imaging
- E-health

HealthTech Summit (ex Life on Chip) co-organized by Antleron in 2023 Being part of an innovation ecosystem lies at the core of what Antleron is about. Collaboration is essential to bring personalized healthcare innovations and therefore we are happy to announce that we will be co-organizing the HealhTech Summit (formerly Life on Chip) again in 2023. Join this great e...

Antleron's end of the year newsletter is out! -> https://bit.ly/3HMgZm0

Dive into the newsletter to take a look back into the past year at Antleron. New ideas, new collaborations and new projects, all together bringing more personalized healthcare closer and faster to patients.

On this occasion we would also like to extend our warmest Christmas season wishes to all. We are looking forward to what our advanced therapy innovations and custom solutions will bring next year, and are ready to shape the healthcare of tomorrow together with all our partners.

Want to stay updated about Antleron? Sign up for our newsletters => https://bit.ly/3tHx0AU

The 3rd edition of the Tissue Engineering Handbook is out! Edited by a team under the supervision of Prof. Jan de Boer, and published by Elsevier, the new edition covers the discipline from its basics to manufacturing process development, updated with the newest knowledge. More info => http://bit.ly/3L4IULR

Our colleagues contributed a chapter focused on the industrialization of tissue engineered product manufacturing - Product and process design: scalable and sustainable tissue-engineered product manufacturing.

We hope students will enjoy learning about the intricacies and complexities of the exciting tissue engineering field!

Together with our partners at myNEO, VUB, and QbD group, we work on the future of cancer vaccines. Persomed aims to help treat tumors unresponsive to other treatment modalities by offering a novel, personalized cancer vaccine to boost the patients’ own immune systems. You can read more in the new publication of BioVox, in which interim CEO Lien Lybaert gives her insight into this innovative endeavour and what it can bring to patients 👇

New personalized cancer vaccine in the making thanks to unique Belgian collaboration - BioVox The young Belgian start-up Persomed is unique – it was founded by four partners each with relevant expertise in the personalized immunotherapy field.

At the Infinite-Ansys User Meeting in Eindhoven on October 14, CEO Jan Schrooten will present an inspiring testimonial on behalf of Antleron. He will explain the innovative deployment of in-silico tools as part of a digital twin, such as the Ansys simulation software package, in the Antleron innovation toolbox. Simulations, hybrid models and digital twins can significantly cut down development timelines and costs, while providing relevant data in bioprocess development.

Meet KU Leuven professor Rik Gijsbers. In the newest edition of Fellow Friday, Rik talks about his motivations to become a scientist, and why he decided to take a step into industry.

Alongside his position at the Faculty of Medicine, Rik joined the Antleron team as consultant, strengthening our ATMP expertise. With extensive expertise in viral vector technology and development of cell and gene therapies for rare diseases, he is supporting our team in accelerating novel solutions for custom bioprocesses.

We are very happy to have Rik on our team!

Read the full story here -> https://bit.ly/3NiereC

Antleron was invited to join the 2022 SME BioForum organized by EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries. The focus of the event is Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMP) in Europe and how the regulatory and market access landscape influences their availability to the patients. => https://bit.ly/3a9brTG

Since SMEs and academic institutions are key drivers of the ATMP revolution, we appreciate the opportunity to participate in the discussion and bring current challenges to the attention of key stakeholders.

The ecosystem approach of Antleron warrants that we interact with a broad group of actors in the ATMP field, ranging from technology pioneers to ATMP developers themselves. Therefore, we hope to be able to discuss ATMP challenges relating to bioprocess innovation and sustainable manufacturing but also beyond.

We are happy to announce that Jan Schrooten, CEO Antleron, joins Medvia as member of the Board of Directors. MEDVIA is a newly established flanders.healthTech innovation cluster, stimulating healthcare innovations through facilitating multi-stakeholder collaborations. The domains targeted by the cluster are medical biotechnology, medical technology, and digital technology.

Read more -> https://lnkd.in/eWT5YPG9

Jan Schrooten joins MEDVIA board of directors Jan Schrooten joins board of directors at innovation cluster MEDVIA. Its collaborative, ecosystem-oriented approach fits well with his experience at Antleron, a collaborative development SME operating in the advanced therapy and diagnostics areas. “Proud and happy to bring the start-up and SME ide...

Antleron Fellows were invited to contribute a chapter for the 3rd edition of 'Tissue Engineering', an update to the well-received handbook published in 2014 through Elsevier. The newest edition covers the discipline from its basics to manufacturing process development, updated with the newest knowledge. Today we are happy to announce that the work has entered its final stages and the handbook will be available from Fall 2022.

Link -> https://www.elsevier.com/books/tissue-engineering/blitterswijk/978-0-12-824459-3

The chapter 'Product and Process Design: Toward Industrial TE Manufacturing', written by our colleagues, provides basic insights and concepts on tissue engineered product quality and manufacturing process development. Building on our hands-on experiences, we also paint a picture of the future direction TE manufacturing needs to take to become sustainable and scalable.

This contribution is driven by the commitment of Antleron’s team to educate and train the next generation of tissue engineers as they will have to make it happen.

We would like to thank the editorial team, led by Jan de Boer, for their support in the making of this chapter.

Read our latest blog post on how customized 3D bioreactors are essential in producing the huge numbers of cells needed to satisfy the global, fast-growing demands of biopharma and advanced therapies.

Using 3D printing as part of the Antleron toolbox, we enable bioprocess solutions by developing customized fixed beds that result in scalable and sustainable cell processing. By combining 3D printing with risk-based process development, in silico simulations and non-invasive monitoring solutions, we develop fixed bed bioreactor solutions customized towards cell type, application and target system.

Bioreactors - Satisfying global cell manufacturing needs With the rise of biopharma and advanced therapies, cells have become a sought-after material in the pharmaceutical industry. Whether as a starting material in a cell therapy, or as a production solution for a monoclonal antibody, great numbers of cells are needed to satisfy global needs. Reliance on...

Read our newest blogpost to learn how we apply 3D printing in our R&D projects => https://bit.ly/3IWhwP0

As a core part of our innovation toolbox, additive manufacturing allows us a lot of flexibility to fast-track and scale the design and development of custom solutions for the cell & gene therapy and diagnostics markets.

Reach out to us with any questions relating to life science applications of additive manufacturing and discover how we can design and develop a custom solution for your bioprocess.

Additive Manufacturing – Enabling custom bioprocess solutions Additive manufacturing (AM), popularly known as 3D printing, has been rapidly gaining momentum over the past decade. One of the primary reasons is the much broader design freedom when compared to other techniques. AM also allowed industries to prototype solutions rapidly and in some cases produce re...

On March 30, during the virtual Ansys SimCare Conference, Antleron CEO Jan Schrooten will join Prith Banarjee (CTO, Ansys) for the 11:00 AM “The process to Adopt and Deploy” Session. He will share, together with other participants, experiences and recommendations in the adoption of computational modeling and simulation solutions for the pharmaceutical industry, such as Ansys Fluent. Take the opportunity to register.

Jan Schrooten will speak at virtual Ansys SimCare Conference SimCare, a virtual conference presented by Ansys brings together Medical Device and Pharmaceutical industry experts to share their experiences applying computer modeling & simulation (CM&S) throughout the development and regulatory process to drastically reduce the time to market and boost...

The flanders.healthTech cluster launched 14 innovative healthcare projects funded a total of €4.7 million by VLAIO.

flanders.healthTech launched last year with the mission to support the health innovation ecosystem and facilitate collaboration between companies, knowledge centers, and healthcare institutions. The cluster includes more than 90 R&D partners from the Flemish ecosystem, who have committed to jointly support innovation in HealthTech applications.

With the Biodevice-CRO partnership – a co-creation between Comate Engineering & Design - Antleron - ICsense - The IC design company – we are developing a biodevice toolbox for rapid development of customized, scalable bioprocess solutions for cell, gene, and diagnostics companies.

The combination of our expertise and strength creates a unique crossover solution that combines medical hardware products (Comate), electronics (ICsense), and life sciences (Antleron) to address a central challenge in healthcare.

More about the flanders.healthTech cluster => https://bit.ly/35KLZCq

Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen

Antleron CEO Jan Schrooten and VUB professor Heidi Ottevaere are featured in the 20th issue of ‘Economie werkt’, the magazine of the Provincie Vlaams-Brabant.

In the interview article, Jan Schrooten en Heide Ottevaere discuss a shared vision on end-to-end collaboration in making personalized medicine a reality for all. The need for a strong, life science-technology cross-over ecosystem, like we have in Flanders, is essential to make this happen.
Read the article => https://bit.ly/3tMVx7D

Antleron's first newsletter is out! => https://mailchi.mp/3a0b311d97e2/antleron-newsletter-march-2022

Watch Jan Schrooten comment on last year’s highlights and what you can expect this year => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgE4G1GvVTs

Dive into the Antleron newsletter to find out about the team, projects, events and collaborations, for example with Ansys, VivaBioCell, Rousselot and Novasign.

Want to keep updated about Antleron? Sign up for Antleron’s newsletters => https://www.antleron.com/newsletter-subscription

If you are curious about cross-over innovations in medicine and health and want to learn from pioneer testimonials, do not forget to sign up to the 4th edition of the Life-on-Chip Conference, co-organized by Antleron, on February 10, 2022...

This year’s conference offers a full day of networking followed by a day full of lectures, starting with a plenary session on data and health(tech) innovation and breaking out into thematic sessions
· Increased efficiency in the healthcare system through the introduction of new technologies
· Solutions for patient specific treatment
· Digital diagnostics & therapeutics
· Shifting the boundaries of knowledge at the forefront of medicine & healthcare

Learn more about Life-on-Chip => https://bit.ly/31Zv90A
Register to attend virtually => https://bit.ly/3ADh3ic

Antleron will again co-organize the Life-on-Chip conference Curious to learn more about the latest cross-over innovations in medicine and health? Then you certainly have to attend our 4th ‘Life-on-Chip Conference - Initiating Convergence in Health Technologies’ organized by Smart Hub Flemish Brabant and flanders.healthTech (through its founding partners ...

As 2021 is coming to an end, in this holiday period we want to wish everyone a safe, peaceful and Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year that continues in the spirit of co-creation and collaboration, for the benefit of all.

Despite the global challenges of the past two years, 2021 was another adventurous year for Antleron. We adapted to the new working reality and worked hard to continue towards our vision – co-creation of personalized advanced therapy manufacturing solutions.

We announced many great collaborations on technologies relevant to the advanced therapy manufacturing field and beyond. Also, our Antleron team grew with new, unique Fellows to achieve our mission. With all this, we are looking forward to 2022 with more great news to come. Stay tuned! antleron.com

Cell by Design® (CbD), the quality-by-design-based methodology for process and product development, co-developed by Antleron and Quality by Design (QbD) is featured in the October/November 2021 issue of the GMP Journal ( #32).

Read the article (p. 23) written by Antleron’s Evan Claes and QbD’s Johan Van den Bergh to learn how a practical framework is crucial in advanced therapy R&D and how its implementation can support IMPD and marketing authorization.

Do not hesitate to reach out for more information on how CbD can benefit your cell therapy R&D pipeline.

PDF of Cell by Design in GMP Journal issue 32 => https://bit.ly/3IBxcIM

Cell by Design page on Antleron website => https://bit.ly/3iK1FHa

PDF of GMP Journal issue 32 => https://bit.ly/3y9r5X4

GMP Journal (all digital issues) => https://bit.ly/31O0Ol1

Cell by Design in GMP Journal (online version) => https://bit.ly/3dGmXEx

Join Antleron CEO Jan Schrooten on December 2 at 03:00 PM for his keynote presentation ‘3D-Printing-by-Design: a Solution for Next Generation Life Science Applications’ at the virtual M3d+it Symposium.

The mission of the M3d+it (Medical 3D-printing and Innovative Technologies) Symposium is to promote 3D printing in medicine.

Jan Schrooten speaks at M3d+it symposium about 3D-Printing-by-Design for life science applications The life science industry is eagerly looking for novel methods and processes to realize the transition from lab-scale proof of concept to commercial manufacturing. In particular, next-generation health solutions require affordable, scalable and personalized manufacturing. At the same time, industria...

Antleron featured in the Ansys Advantage Magazine with an article about Antleron’s digital twin development for personalized, cell-based therapies...

“Ansys collaborates with Antleron to transform their digital twin vision for personalized medicine microbioreactors into a widespread reality.” - Prith Banerjee, CTO.

Advanced Computer Models and Digital Twin facilitate the development and optimization of bioprocess environments as well as gaining insights into the process itself based on data-driven and mechanistic models. With the support of Ansys solutions integrated into our toolbox alongside additive manufacturing, quality-by-design and process modeling, we are able to design custom bioreactor environments for cell-based applications.

Additionally, the mission of digital twins is to quantify and thus monitor process critical quality attributes, such as cell growth, in real-time.

Antleron takes part in the Ansys Startup Programme to strengthen the development of digital twin and soft-sensor capabilities.

Antleron in silico simulations driven by Ansys solutions Harvesting the power of computer simulations and models allows us to redefine the concept of a bioreactor, or ‘personalized factory,’ in an advanced therapy setting. Read Ansys Advantage magazine article: "Digital Twins Help Bioreactors to Produce Personalized, Cell-Based Therapies “Putting ce...