Technology

Multi-dimensional cell engineering in a single step

Through the complementary application of biological insights and technological advancements, we aim to unlock the transformative potential of cell therapies.

Creating the Future of Cell Therapies

Since our founding, we have focused on driving innovation to overcome the biological and manufacturing constraints of engineering cells as a therapeutic. We believe that our Cell Squeeze® technology has the potential to underpin a new generation of cell therapies by expanding the therapeutic possibilities of intracellular delivery, while streamlining the anticipated production time, costs and logistics for greater accessibility.

Multi-dimensional Control

Ability to modify cell functions, through transient or permanent changes, in a combinatorial manner

Breadth of cell types

Flexibility across therapeutically relevant cell types (immune cells, stem cells, RBCs, and more)

Autologous or allogeneic

Fit-for-purpose compatibility with autologous or allogeneic approaches

Cost effective, scalable

Practical, scalable model for producing and delivering cell therapies to patients

The Cell Squeeze® Technology

Cell therapies require precise and versatile biological engineering at scale to generate effective and accessible products. Our proprietary Cell Squeeze® technology relies on temporarily disrupting the cell membrane to deliver a variety of therapeutic cargoes while preserving cell health and function. Our technology allows for efficient, rapid and scalable intracellular delivery at a processing rate of over 10 billion cells per minute.

SQZ® Comparison of Different Approaches to Intracellular Delivery

	Cell Squeeze®	Viral	Electroporation
Preservation of cell health	Minimal disruption of gene expression or normal cell functions	Tendency to trigger innate anti-viral responses. Risk of integration of viral components into the genome	Disruption of gene expression that can interfere with functions such as differentiation and expansion
Scalability	Scalable, e.g., through altering channel parallelization	Production of GMP virus may be expensive, time consuming and demand special safety measures	Flow-based systems are scalable; cuvette-based systems have scaling challenges
Universal across cell types	Applicable to all mammalian cell types attempted to date	Only applicable to certain cell types and often require different viral constructs for different cell types	Only applicable to certain cell types
Material independent	Diffusion mediated delivery is mostly cargo agnostic	No, can only deliver nucleic acids compatible with viral packaging	No, complex delivery mechanism favors highly charged materials such as nucleic acids

Stewart, M., et al. Nature. 2016.
Park, JC., et al. Immuno-Oncology and Technology. 2022.

Cell Squeeze®

Viral

Electroporation

Cell perturbation	Minimal disruption of gene expression or normal cell functions
Scalability	Scalable, e.g., through altering channel parallelization
Universal across cell types	Applicable to all mammalian cell types attempted to date
Material independent	Diffusion mediated delivery is mostly cargo agnostic

Stewart, M., et al. Nature. 2016.
Park, JC., et al. Immuno-Oncology and Technology. 2022.

Therapeutic Applications of Cell Squeeze® Engineering

We believe there is significant therapeutic potential to be unleashed by engineering cell behavior. Our Cell Squeeze® technology has enabled the development of an oncology therapeutic candidate in an active Phase 1/2 clinical trial and has also led to a number of preclinical developments in the areas of autoimmune disease, infectious disease and regenerative medicine.