Test bed in Winston-Salem boosts emerging field of regenerative medicine

Walking inside a 2,500-square-foot laboratory in downtown Winston-Salem, visitors might not notice anything unusual.

There are instruments, hoods, high-powered microscopes and other equipment you’d expect to see in a lab. Several researchers and technicians are busy with experiments. It’s a quiet environment.

What goes unseen is how significant a role this lab plays in unlocking the growth potential of the Piedmont Triad’s life sciences industry. Housed in the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), the lab serves as a test bed – a place where startups can build and evaluate prototypes. There’s no charge for startups to use the facility.

Opened in 2021 as a collaboration between WFIRM and the nonprofit RegenMed Development Organization (ReMDO), the test bed is designed to give emerging companies a starting point for turning promising discoveries into devices, therapies and technologies that can lead to better science and improved health.

“Startup companies and emerging companies from all over the country and the world can use this test bed for free to help them prototype their product for manufacturing,” said Anthony Atala, M.D., WFIRM’s director and chair of urology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Speaking at WFIRM’s recent public day event showcasing the institute’s programs and advances in regenerative medicine, Atala said the test bed supports manufacturing equipment suppliers as much as it does the startups testing their prototypes.

“The startups are saving early, precious cash when they need it most,” he said. “The suppliers with manufacturing equipment get that one-to-one interaction with the end user so they can make a better [version] 2.0.”

Triad leading the way

The test bed enhances the Piedmont Triad region’s status as one of the nation’s leading centers for regenerative medicine.

As an emerging field, regenerative medicine is attracting more public and private funding. Regenerative medicine involves developing therapies that help the human body heal itself, even going as far as growing new organs.

The National Science Foundation last year awarded initial funding of $15 million to a WFIRM-led team. WFIRM and its collaborators are using the funding to build an ecosystem of startups, suppliers, colleges and universities, nonprofits and other partners involved in regenerative medicine. Operating collectively as the Regenerative Medicine Engine in North Carolina, the collaboration includes WFIRM, ReMDO, Forsyth Technical Community College, North Carolina A&T State University, Winston-Salem State University and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

It’s the nation’s first regional innovation hub dedicated to regenerative medicine, with more than 150 member and partner companies and organizations in its network.

“The Regenerative Medicine Engine provides a complete ecosystem for companies to launch, test their products and set the stage for commercial success,” said Nancy Johnston, executive director of NCBiotech’s Piedmont Triad Office. “Having the test bed at the center of it all gives companies another resource that makes the Triad and North Carolina a thriving place for regenerative medicine.”

As the test bed attracts more startups and equipment manufacturers, these companies are bringing staff to the Triad, and in some cases, creating new jobs. The Regenerative Medicine Engine estimates that it attracted $270 million in investment in the region in its first year, with more than 20 new jobs created.

Valuable feedback for new products

Companies that evaluated new products in the test bed have made good use of the variety of advanced equipment and resources the facility offers.

One such case is Epredia, a diagnostics technology company that used the test bed to develop a clinical trial that led to approval of a new product. The company’s E1000 Dx digital scanner gained clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Epredia announced in March. Epredia is owned by Japan-based PHC Holdings Corp.

Another example is Ramona Optics. The Durham advanced imaging company in January launched Vireo, its live-cell imaging system, based on beta testing and feedback from its use in the test bed.

Since medical and scientific research typically requires the use of expensive equipment, the test bed helps startups reduce the financial burden of investing heavily in tools and processes, said Stephen Cutie, a WFIRM researcher and test bed manager. The facility enables companies to use complex workflows in their evaluations that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive, he said during a recent tour of the test bed.

Atala, who led the team that developed the first lab-grown organ to be implanted in a human, said at the public event that the test bed has expanded several times to accommodate demand from companies that want to use it.

“To our surprise, within three months [of opening], the space that we allocated was entirely gone,” he said. “These companies started coming in from all over the globe to use the facilities that are here in our backyard.”