Smart MCs, a biotech startup born out of the UTS ecosystem, has been awarded the Accelerating Commercialisation government grant for their scaled-up microcarrier production line, a project totalling $600K.
Founded in 2022, Smart MCs was initially supported by the UTS Startups community, a hub that provides mentorship and resources to budding entrepreneurs, and quickly gained traction with their innovative microcarriers. Their unique microcarriers, made from biocompatible, biodegradable, and edible materials, have eliminated inefficiencies and concerns around particulates, residuals, and breakage of carriers.
Microcarriers are micron-sized and spherical particles that provide a support structure for attachment, growth and differentiation of adherent cells inside bioreactors. Microcarriers are an important tool to scale up culture systems for industrial production of lab-grown meat or cellular therapies.
Image: Comparison on what it takes to culture 125 million cells with conventional flasks versus our microcarrier technologies.
This grant will enable Smart MCs to significantly scale up their microcarrier production for adjusting to the rapidly increasing demand from their growing list of customers. This list notably includes industry players from the emerging cultured meat and bioprocessing industries where microcarriers are a crucial necessity and bottleneck in the process of scaled production.
"We are thrilled to receive this grant, and grateful for the support of Vanouhi Nazarian, the Accelerating Commercialisation grant facilitator who mentored us throughout the application. We are also a proud member of UTS Startups team who have been instrumental in helping us to achieve this success through their mentorship and support. In fact, Vanouhi was first introduced to Smart MCs team through UTS Startups community events!" said Smart MCs CEO, Payar Radfar.
The success of companies like Smart MCs demonstrates the crucial role that UTS Startups plays in fostering and supporting the growth of innovative startups, providing a platform for entrepreneurs to realise their visions and make a significant impact in their respective industries.
Image: (Left) Cells Growing on Smart MCs' microcarriers. (Right) Fluorescent images of cells after attaching to microcarriers
The success of companies like Smart MCs demonstrates the crucial role that UTS Startups plays in fostering and supporting the growth of innovative startups, providing a platform for entrepreneurs to realise their visions and make a significant impact in their respective industries. Find out more about UTS Startups.