Lancaster Labs expands biopharma labs

Five key areas marked for major expansion Fueled by biopharmaceutical industry growth and testing needs, Lancaster Labs is adding five analytical labs as well as manufacturing and storage facilities. Clients will appreciate expanded services in the following areas: viral safety and viral clearance, cell and molecular biology, and cell bank manufacturing and storage. A biosafety level 3 lab is also part of the expansion. Viral safety Two new labs will be used to conduct testing for adventitious agents. These expanded areas will offer safety for clients’ biopharmaceutical products. Viral clearance studies Two new suites will be available for clients to conduct scaled-down purification process studies to validate their manufacturing processes. Lancaster Labs will provide support for study design as well as analyses of samples. Dave Hooper, a scientist in our Biopharmaceutical Services Group, performs tissue culture to support Lancaster Labs viral safety testing program. Cell biology and tissue culture In addition to providing support for viral safety, the Biopharmaceutical Group will offer services for the characterization of cell lines and development and validation of cell-based bioassays. Molecular biology The Biopharmaceutical Group conducts analyses and quantitative PCR for residual nucleic acids and will offer QPCR methodologies for viruses and mycoplasma. Cell banking Lancaster Labs will house a state-of-the-art production facility that will provide capabilities to manufacture and store master and working cell banks. This affords clients a long-term, secure storage facility for their cell lines. And Lancaster Labs will provide pertinent testing services to qualify cell lines.