Sanofi Buys Berkeley Lights’ Cell Line Platform

On April 17, 2018, Berkeley Lights, a digital cell biology company, announced that Sanofi has purchased the company’s Beacon platform to accelerate the cell-line development (CLD) process.

Based on data from a pilot study, the Beacon platform was shown to quickly and efficiently identify target-secreting clones, which may save resources and speed the discovery and development process, Berkeley Lights reports. The Beacon platform employs four integrated workflows-import, culture, assay, and export-that can be applied for cell line development, antibody discovery and engineering, gene editing, and research.

The technology automates workflows, increasing efficiencies and reducing overall time while providing insights into the behavior of clonal populations, which is not possible using traditional techniques, the company reports. The Beacon platform is capable of screening thousands of cells and clones in under a week.
    
“Berkeley Lights is committed to supporting our customers and helping them increase the scale and precision of their cell line development processes to innovate faster,” said Eric Hobbs, PhD, CEO at Berkeley Lights, in a company press release. “Our mission is to deliver versatile platforms that combine biology, technology, and information, enabling scientists to automate manual lab workflows and focus on discovery.”