Revolutionizing Biological Research: Parallel Bio’s Vision for Automation and Organoid Technology
In the dynamic landscape of biotech, Ari Gesher, newly appointed Head of Technology at Parallel Bio, emerges as a pivotal figure with a groundbreaking vision. Despite being relatively new to the biotech sector, Gesher and his team are poised to revolutionize biological research through an innovative melding of automation and organoid technology. Their mission? To expedite and refine experiments, ensuring they are not only faster and more efficient but also of superior quality, thereby allowing scientists to dedicate more time to devising groundbreaking experiments while robots manage the monotonous tasks.
Gesher articulates a compelling argument against the traditional biotech compromise between speed, quality, and cost. He challenges the conventional wisdom with a question, “Why not have all three?” At the core of Parallel Bio’s strategy is the “Clinical Trial in a Dish” platform, a pioneering combination of immune organoid technology and robotic automation designed to offer rapid results, cut costs, and generate higher-quality data compared to conventional animal models.
The pharmaceutical industry is already showing keen interest, drawn by the promise of testing drug candidates on human organoid models earlier in the development cycle. This not only has the potential to streamline research and development but also to introduce an ethical dimension by moving away from animal testing. Gesher envisions a future where human models become the default for research due to their superior relevance and reliability. He notes, “Using human models instead of animal models is better in almost every way.”
Recent legislative changes, such as the signing of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 by President Biden in December 2022, have further fueled the momentum towards alternatives to animal testing, highlighting the timeliness and potential impact of Parallel Bio’s approach.
Parallel Bio’s technology employs lab-grown immune organoids, miniature replicas of the human immune system derived from a single donor, to facilitate controlled and repeatable experiments. This innovation drastically reduces the variability that plagues animal models or those involving different human donors, providing researchers with an unparalleled level of experimental control. Yet, the path of organoid research is not devoid of obstacles, particularly those related to variability and the complexity of replicating in vivo conditions.
Parallel Bio seeks to navigate these challenges through automation, deploying robots for tasks ranging from pipetting to data collection, thereby allowing experiments to run around the clock with reduced human error and enhanced reproducibility. Gesher believes automation not only streamlines the research process but elevates it, enabling scientists to explore more complex questions by abstracting away routine lab work. He contends that automation is the antidote to the reproducibility crisis haunting modern science, ensuring experiments can be replicated with precision and consistency.
Gesher’s long-term vision is an industry-wide “industrialization” of scientific research, where automation and organoid technology become the norm, akin to the seismic shift brought about by cloud computing in the IT realm. He imagines a future where researchers can outsource the logistical complexities of their experiments to specialized service providers like Parallel Bio, focusing instead on the essence of their research questions.
Ari Gesher’s strategic direction for Parallel Bio heralds a new era in biotech, promising a paradigm where biological research is not only accelerated but elevated in quality and efficiency. With the integration of automation, organoid technology, and a service-oriented model, Parallel Bio stands at the forefront of a movement poised to redefine our approach to biological research and development.
