Articles from ATCC

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced the appointment of Ruth R. Cheng, PhD, as president and chief executive officer (CEO). Dr. Cheng, who has been with ATCC for five years and most recently served as senior vice president and general manager, Research and Industrial Solutions, succeeds Raymond H. Cypess, DVM, PhD, who will remain on the Board of Directors as chairman.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $4,055,500 by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Under this task order 75N91024D00015, ATCC will provide specific laboratory services for the Animal Models and Retroviral Vaccines Section (AMRVS) of the Vaccine Branch (VB) – a research branch of the Center for Cancer Research at NCI that conducts research on two retroviruses, human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), that cause cancer and neuropathology, and AIDS respectively. The VB uses its research findings to design novel vaccines and therapies for these chronic diseases that suppress and evade the immune system.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a one-year, subaward (# CON-80005343 GR125418) in the amount of $165,962 to advance research activities relevant to tickborne diseases (TBDs). This multi-investigator award is part of the “Parasite-Derived Vesicles in Babesia Virulence and Vaccine Development” Project funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has received a C06 Research Facilities Construction Grant from the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to support the building of ATCC’s new biomanufacturing suite at its headquarters in Manassas, Virginia. The facility, which ATCC broke ground for on September 12, will be designed to rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks by providing high-throughput manufacturing for reproducible, high-quality virus stocks and reagents to the NIH. The biomedical scientific community will broadly use these materials to accelerate and evaluate vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics for public health, including those of epidemic or pandemic potential.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a seven-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ATCC will support the NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in developing, refining and using both animal and animal replacement models to assess candidate therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics targeted at infectious diseases. Additionally, ATCC will generate difficult-to-source reagents requiring animal models. This award builds upon ATCC’s existing contracts with NIAID, which support the institute’s mission to conduct basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has received a Commonwealth’s Development Opportunity Fund (COF) grant administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) to apply toward its new biomanufacturing suite at its Manassas headquarters. The incentive award entails a significant capital investment and support for workforce development. ATCC is slated to add 75 new positions over the next three years and will utilize the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program to expedite recruitment and training.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a task order with a ceiling value of $15.5 million, inclusive of base and options, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under this task order 75N93019D00002-75N93024F00001, ATCC will develop well-characterized challenge material (WCCM) for the In Vitro Assessment for Antimicrobial Activity (IVAAA) program. This program aims to evaluate candidate countermeasures against microbial pathogens and vectors, including those derived from clinical specimens. The assessments are conducted in vitro and focus on antiviral screening assays for biosafety level (BSL)-3/4 viruses relevant to human diseases, as well as other rapidly emerging viruses that employ similar assay methodologies.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a five-year contract with a ceiling value of $7.37 million by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This task order, 75N91022D0002.75N91024F00001, under the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) Field and Biospecimen Support Services’ Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), will assist the DCEG’s Biospecimen Activity and Assay Support (BAAS) program by providing biospecimen processing services, as well as molecular and genetic assays, for epidemiologic and clinical cancer research studies.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, and Tissue Dynamics, a disruptive pharma-tech company integrating advanced artificial intelligence tools with bionic human organoids, today announced a partnership to develop workflow friendly cardiac organoids-based kits for improved cardiac safety testing in drug development. The collaboration will be done under the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD) framework, which awarded both companies a two-year grant. The BIRD Foundation, established in 1977, bolsters transformative partnerships that stimulate, promote, and support industrial research and development in a wide range of technology sectors.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced a five-year, $87 million award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to support the development of next-generation medical countermeasures (MCMs) to protect Americans from public health security threats such as coronaviruses.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a Task Order under an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Task Order is part of the Storage Facility Task Area under the Comprehensive and Rapid Response to NIAID Research Programs (CARRRP).

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced a seven-year contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to continue the management of the BEI Resources Program. NIAID has made an initial award of over $21.5 million, with further funding expected if all project milestones are met. This contract will merge the NIH HIV Reagent Program with the BEI Resources Program under the Biological and Emerging Infections Research Resources Program (BEI-RRP) umbrella. ATCC has managed the BEI Resources Program since 2003 and the NIH HIV Reagent Program since 2020. This important merger will allow researchers to have streamlined access to all priority pathogens for human health under one program.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that ATCC catalog item MSA-2003-ISS was sent to the International Space Station (ISS National Lab) on November 9th aboard the SpaceX CRS-29 Cargo Dragon Resupply Craft mission. In collaboration with Dr. Scott Tighe, technical director at the University of Vermont’s advanced genomics lab, ATCC Federal Solutions customized catalog item MSA-2003 into a specialized format for use in zero gravity in the ISS National Lab. The ATCC team created MSA-2003-ISS, a lyophilized whole-cell mix of 10 bacterial species contained in special tubes fitted with Space compatible Qosina septa valves for standard pipet injections by the Astronaut crew without the potential for exposure. This microbial standard was chosen for the uTitan ISS mission because of its genetic and phenotypic diversity.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract 75N93023D00009 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With this contract, ATCC, as a member in the NIAID selected service provider pool, will support NIAID’s Preclinical Services for Biopharmaceutical Product Development in two main areas: the development and validation of analytical assays for product characterization and process development and formulation.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced the appointment of Alfredo Molinolo, MD, PhD, Director of the Biorepository and Tissue Technology Shared Resource (BTTSR) at the Moores Cancer Center, the University of California San Diego, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Molinolo is a Professor in the Department of Pathology, and in his current role, he oversees the development of efficient ways to collect, process, store, maintain, and share a validated biospecimen collection from human and experimental sources. His work also includes research in different models of human cancer, primarily focused on oral and breast cancer, as well as multiplexing immunohistochemistry and protein expression quantification and digital pathology.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced a Task Order award with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As part of this award, ATCC, a member of BARDA’s Clinical Studies Network (CSN), operates the CSN’s Biological Specimen and Investigational Product (BSIP) storage facility and provides centralized services, storage and distribution of its clinical samples and investigational products across BARDA-supported studies.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization and U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), an independent, international and scientific nonprofit organization, today announced a long-term, multi-year strategic collaboration to jointly provide co-branded reference materials and reference standards that will serve to advance the quality and development of biologic medicines and therapies.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it would be supporting Areté, one of the four winning teams awarded a contract from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the research and development arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), to develop novel methods for Targeted Evaluation of Ionizing Radiation Exposure (TEI-REX).

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced a new line of products, CAR-T Target luciferase reporter cell lines, that will support immuno-oncology (IO) discovery and development of novel immunotherapies. These models have a high endogenous expression of relevant chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T target antigens such as HER2, CD19, and CD20. These new IO tools are comprised of both hematological cancer and solid tumor cell lines that express a luciferase reporter.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been selected as an awardee for the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) Field and Biospecimen Support Services contract. Under this contract, ATCC will compete to provide technical support for studies and other research activities associated with ongoing and new research programs conducted in DCEG Branches and Laboratories within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ATCC will support multidisciplinary domestic and international studies with diverse study designs in epidemiology, exposure assessment, genetics, and clinical research that include retrospective and prospective cohort studies, case-control studies, family studies, cross-sectional molecular epidemiology studies, exposure assessment studies, and randomized clinical trials.

ATCC, the world's premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced the promotion of Rebecca Bradford to the position of Vice President, Government Programs in the ATCC Federal Solutions (AFS) business unit, and Linda Johnson to Vice President, Licensing and Intellectual Property Management. Both positions will continue to bring leadership and vision to ATCC's growth strategy.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management, and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded two contracts from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited, on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to continue its work with the biotechnology company on a diagnostic test and vaccine for Leishmaniasis, a vector-borne, global protozoan endemic disease. ATCC will use its recognized expertise in providing critical gold standard reagents to develop Master Cell Banks (MCBs) and Working Cell Banks (WCBs) for the production of a Leishmania donovani diagnostic test and an attenuated Leishmania major vaccine.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded two projects, with a combined value of $385,000, by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support its Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agency over a five-year period. Under the Federal cooperative agreement, ATCC will establish the USDA ARS Resources Collection, a remote repository of biological materials, and oversee the production, storage, characterization and distribution of specific Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC)-developed cells and viruses to the scientific community. For the second project, ATCC will create genetically modified cell lines capable of growing and producing African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) vaccines.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with QIAGEN, a recognized leader in bioinformatics solutions, to provide them with sequencing data from its collection of cell lines, and animal and human biological materials. QIAGEN Digital Insights, the bioinformatics unit of QIAGEN, will establish a database from this information to develop and deliver high-value digital biology content for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, enabling the use of authenticated biological data sets to uncover new disease pathways and discover novel therapeutic targets.

ATCC, the world's premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a two-year task order, with a ceiling value of $5.6 million, by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This task order is part of the Company's existing Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with NCI to support the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) Molecular Epidemiology Assay Support (MEAS) program.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a task order contract, with a ceiling value of $1.9 million, by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop well-characterized challenge material (WCCM) for therapeutic development. ATCC will provide well-characterized Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) and BSL-4 viruses of public health concern, including those of pandemic or epidemic potential, to assist in developing medical countermeasures.

ATCC, the world's premier biological materials management and standards organization, announced that it has been awarded three grants valued at over $5.5 million by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The work will identify and characterize novel therapeutic approaches to viruses of global health concern. Promising therapeutic candidates will be tested for efficacy with in vitro and in vivo model systems.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $1.5 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Under this second consecutive contract, ATCC will continue to store and distribute DNA samples to members of the research community who are participating in NHANES.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a contract with Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. (Leidos Biomed), current operator of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, for the continued production, characterization and distribution of next-generation cancer models (NGCM). These models will be distributed solely by ATCC as part of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Human Cancer Model Initiative (HCMI), an international consortium that is generating novel, next-generation, tumor-derived culture models annotated with genomic, clinical and biospecimen data. In consultation with the HCMI team at Leidos Biomed and the Center for Cancer Genomics (CCG) at NCI, the contract will add 70 additional NGCMs to HCMI’s current catalog of 182 models – all of which will be available as a community resource through its data portal.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that it has been awarded a seven-year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of $545 million by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With this contract, ATCC will support NIAID’s Division of Clinical Research, Division of Intramural Research and Vaccine Research Center with rapid response capabilities to infectious disease issues, such as COVID-19, as well as provide quality services across basic science, preclinical, clinical, assay development and vaccine production.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced it has hired Greg Ballish as its new Chief Commercial Officer. In his role, Ballish will head ATCC’s sales and marketing operations and partner with Ruth Cheng, Ph.D., Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer and Vice President of Corporate Development of ATCC, to oversee the corporate business and commercial center. As part of the executive leadership team, Ballish will focus on growing the company’s global footprint and reinforcing ATCC’s position as the de facto leader in biological resources.

ATCC, the world’s premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced that Dr. Melissa Rewolinski, Steve Curts and Heather Kiessling have joined its board of directors. ATCC’s board helps advise the senior leadership team on a variety of business, strategy and science-related issues. Board members work closely with management to identify new opportunities to deepen ATCC’s impact within the scientific community and grow its business.

ATCC, the world's premier biological materials management and standards organization, today announced it has promoted Dr. Joseph Leonelli to senior vice president of ATCC Federal Solutions. Since joining the company in 2015, he has served as a pivotal member of AFS's executive leadership team, responsible for its programs' overall strategy, management and growth, including products and services for emerging infectious disease, biodefense, and medical countermeasures and global health security.