ATLANTA & VANCOUVER, British Columbia– Axion BioSystems and STEMCELL Technologies are pleased to announce a strategic partnership that will enable STEMCELL to sell Axion’s state-of-the-art Maestro Pro™ and Maestro Edge™ multielectrode array (MEA) systems within North America and Europe. The industry-leading Maestro MEA systems will also continue to be available for purchase worldwide directly from Axion BioSystems. Through this partnership, Axion and STEMCELL will enable scientists to examine the complex interactions between electrical cells in vitro, driving mechanistic disease research and propelling therapeutic development in neural and cardiac fields.
Conventional electrophysiology methods, such as patch clamp, have been instrumental in establishing our understanding of cell processes and disease mechanisms in electrically active cells. However, they can be tedious and complex, requiring extensive training to collect recordings from single cells at low throughput. Maestro MEA technology makes quality electrophysiological data accessible, reducing the technical barriers and throughput limitations by measuring from a grid of microelectrodes embedded in multiwell plates. Dynamic activity patterns can be measured noninvasively across an entire population of cells, enabling researchers to record real-time responses to experimental stimuli and assess changes in cell network function over time. Versatile and user-friendly, the Maestro Pro and Edge systems make it easy to adopt advanced MEA technology, empowering researchers to address impactful experimental questions with functional data while accelerating the pace of their research.
To ensure researchers are poised for success in their MEA endeavors, STEMCELL offers a complete workflow of high-quality cells, media, reagents, and supplies to support functionally active cultures. By using Maestro MEA systems in combination with reliable, ethically sourced iPSCs or differentiated cells, BrainPhys™ Neuronal Medium, and STEMdiff™ kits (e.g., neural or cardiomyocyte), scientists can quickly achieve highly active cultures with simple, straightforward protocols, ensuring reproducible experimental results.
“As Scientists Helping Scientists, STEMCELL strives to provide researchers with innovative tools that enable the pursuit of new lines of questioning, facilitating scientific breakthroughs—this collaboration does just that,” said Dr. Allen Eaves, CEO and President of STEMCELL Technologies. “Axion shares our passion, and together, our companies are uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive cell culture and functional analysis solutions to enable discoveries by scientists working in neural and cardiac research.”
According to Axion BioSystems’ CEO Julien Bradley, the collaboration advances the company’s mission to equip every lab with the power of Maestro MEA. “Since its founding in 2008 by a team of scientists, Axion’s goal has been to make high-quality, easy-to-use MEA tools more accessible. With Maestro MEA technology establishing itself as the new standard for functional analysis, especially in critical areas like mechanistic disease research and therapeutic development, we expect this new agreement with STEMCELL will accelerate groundbreaking discoveries and help improve human health.”
