Chandreyee Das, PhD, of Science Exchange recently spoke with Rajan Bawa, PhD, of CARE Research LLC, a leading preclinical CRO combining quality service for clients with excellent quality of life for animals — even for challenging or complex projects.
CD: Rajan, you’ve been in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry for over 40 years, can you tell us your company’s story?
RB: Twenty years ago, I started this histopathology company, Colorado Histo-Prep. In 2010, we acquired one of our preclinical CRO clients, which was CARE Research, enabling us to provide a one-stop-shop for our clients in the preclinical space.
CD: What capabilities does CARE Research have that set the company apart from other preclinical CROs?
RB: One differentiator is our ability to start projects very swiftly, with quick IACUC approval. We have extensive technical and regulatory experience.
Also, our responsiveness to our sponsor needs, being proactive in providing ongoing progress reports — we don’t wait until things go wrong.
We’re relatively small — we have about 20 people — but that means that we have high-ranking people in our organization — say, VP of Toxicology, or IACUC chairs — actively involved in projects. In large preclinical CROs, very often, there’s a study director who sits in his office, doesn’t even make it to the lab until the sponsor comes to visit.
CD: What preclinical services do you offer that are differentiated from other service providers?
RB: One area of strength is in DART (Developmental and reproductive toxicology) studies and ocular studies. DART services are not often offered by small or medium CROs, because they lack the expertise to carry out these specialized studies.
Ocular studies are another of our core competencies — these are also complex studies, you really have to know what you’re doing.
CD: What type of certifications does CARE Research hold?
RB: That’s a great question. We are OLA certified, AAALAC accredited, and we are GLP. We’re inspected regularly by FDA and USDA.
CD: What types of clients do you serve?
RB: We have a mix of different sponsors. We have large pharma, small biomedical companies, university researchers, startup companies.
In addition to our flexibility and ability to respond quickly, we have the ability to do very complex projects, especially in the surgical and ocular area in contrast to other CROs who may stay away from complex studies.
CD: Finally, could you describe your experience with Science Exchange?
RB: Science Exchange allows us to widen our reach, and allows us to find clients we would not have found using our internal resources. Also, the project managers whom I’ve interacted with are very helpful and responsive, and easily available to answer any questions, provide clarifications, etc in a patient manner.
Request a quote from CARE Research and get on the fastest path to completing your preclinical studies.
Image of Colon Tumor Stem Cells courtesy of OcellO
If you aren’t exploring the latest cell culture models of human tissue for nonclinical and preclinical testing, you should be.
That’s the bottom line of today’s Science Exchange service provider roundup — three of the five newest service providers on our platform are experts in developing predictive models.
Advances in predictive model systems
Axiogenesis, based in Germany, develops iPSC-derived models of cardiac tissue, neurons, and other cell types. In late 2016, the company made the news when researchers at the United States FDA published a peer-reviewed study showing that Axiogenesis’s Cor.4U cardiomyocyte model was the most predictive model in cardiac safety tests. Last month, researchers at Wake Forest University used the Cor.4U model to develop a digitally trackable beating-heart biosensor. The future of cardiac safety clearly lies beyond hERG channel electrophysiology!
Generating tissue models with precise spatial resolution is possible using 3D bioprinting, in which Cypre Biotech is an expert. Based in San Francisco, USA, the company focuses on customizing the extracellular matrix of tumor microenvironment models to match certain cancer subtypes. Given the impact of new cancer drugs, including certain immunotherapies, on the tumor microenvironment, technologies such as that developed by Cypre are going to be needed for testing safety and efficacy.
The third service provider in this roundup excelling in the development of clinically relevant microtissue models is OcellO, headquartered in the Netherlands. Researchers at OcellO have published numerous peer-reviewed studies showing how combining three-dimensional tissue culture with high-throughput imaging can enable efficient, automated screening and phenotypic profiling. Their most recent publication showed that phenotypic screening of kinase inhibitors could reveal potential new targets for polycystic kidney disease (view abstract in the Resources section of the OcellO storefront).
Analytical methods for translational research
As model systems advance in complexity and throughput, analytical methods must keep pace. Two service providers new on Science Exchange are known for their expertise in developing reliable analytical methods.
Pangaea Oncology is one of the most prestigious laboratories in the world in the fields of molecular diagnostics, pathology, and related analysis services for translational research. We are thrilled to have the Pangaea team, led by expert Dr. Rafael Rosell and Nobel laureate Dr. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, join the Science Exchange platform! Pangaea Oncology was the first laboratory in Spain to be accredited to perform certain genetic tests for cancer in serum/plasma samples, advancing precision medicine.
We also bring you Metis Laboratories, whose analytical expertise centers on radiotracer-based assays. These assays remain one of the most sensitive and specific platforms for assessing ligand binding and compound distribution; however, complex handling requirements mean that outsourcing these studies is far more practical than developing radiotracer assays in house.
At Science Exchange, our Masters’ and Ph.D.-level sourcing managers will help you find the right service provider for your project. Based on glowing customer testimonials, we know that our sourcing managers are one of our company’s greatest assets.
Let’s get to know them better! We’ll start with customers’ favorite, Zev Wisotsky. Trained in neuroscience, he devoted his graduate research to studying taste detection in insects.
“We love working with you, you are amazing…Thanks for everything you do.”— Researcher at Gilead Sciences, to Zev
Featured Sourcing Manager: Zev Wisotsky, Ph.D.
Expertise: Neuroscience
Why requesters keep coming back to him: Zev embodies excellence in customer service. That rare combination of empathy, patience, dedication, and hyper-organization comes together in Zev, seasoned with a dash of effortless communication and a sauce of good humor.
One request he is proud of being able to source: Zev is particularly proud to have once located some difficult-to-find tuberculosis blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples for a client that was not able to find them. This allowed our client to further their research. They were also excited to be able to start their project quickly once they joined Science Exchange.
How he solved one tough sourcing challenge: There was one overseas shipping error where Zev was able to coordinate with the client and service provider to fix and reship samples with minimal extraneous costs and time.
Experience (education and/or prior roles): Zev graduated from University of California Riverside with a degree in Neuroscience, investigating and characterizing the cellular mechanisms involved in taste detection using fruit fly and mosquito. He then completed postdoctoral research at Stanford investigating the role of brain regions involved in fear memory and addiction through silencing different brain circuits optogenetically.
Some of the Science Exchange team recently went to AAAS – the American Association for the Advancement of Science. While there, I went to several sessions that talked about the composition of research teams and the dedication they have to have applying for grant after grant, and often times not hearing back for months at a time, only to then see those months of hopes dashed when they are denied funding.
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