Use Cases

Case Studies

2025/06/17

Building the Future of Cell Therapy: How AI and Robotics Are Revolutionizing Manufacturing

Astellas Pharma

Astellas Pharma partnered with Robotic Biology Institute and Epistra to implement AI and robotics in cell therapy manufacturing, achieving a CV of 5.9% and discovering conditions yielding 50-100x greater yields within three months.

2025/02/14

Pioneering the Future of Cell Culture with "CellTune"

Shimadzu Corporation

Shimadzu Corporation and Epistra jointly developed "CellTune," a culture optimization software that leverages AI to determine optimal cell culture conditions from LC/MS analysis data. The project progressed from inception to product release in just two years.

2025/02/14

Searching for Cell Recipes for Regenerative Medicine Using AI

Vision Care

Vision Care and Epistra combined AI and robotics to optimize iPS cell differentiation induction conditions, achieving efficiency equal to or greater than that of experienced technicians and enabling application to cell manufacturing processes for regenerative medicine.

2025/01/26

Reducing R&D from Two Years to a Few Weeks: Discovering Conditions for High-Yield Structural Protein Production with AI

Spiber

Spiber and Epistra collaborated to dramatically accelerate bioprocess optimization using AI, compressing what typically required two years of R&D into just a few weeks and discovering condition combinations humans would never consider.

OTHER CASES

Additional Case Studies

Industry-Leading Track Record

Extensive experience across life science fields

Productivity
Improvement 19 cases

Quality
Improvement 12 cases

Material Cost
Reduction 15 cases

R&D Period
Reduction 16 cases

Biopharmaceuticals

Cell Culture Media Development for Antibody Drug Manufacturing

40% Improvement in Antibody Production

Using CellTune, our culture optimization software powered by Epistra Accelerate, we improved the feed media composition for antibody production. As a result of the optimization, we discovered a media composition that increased antibody production by approximately 40% compared to the pre-optimization composition.

Assay Development

Novel Assay System Construction

46% Improvement in Detection Sensitivity

44% Reduction in R&D Period

We optimized conditions for a novel assay for drug screening. Human researchers and Epistra Accelerate independently conducted the optimization and compared results. The conditions discovered by Epistra Accelerate improved pre-optimization sensitivity by 46% and exceeded human-discovered conditions by 12%. While human researchers took 4.5 months, Epistra Accelerate completed the exploration in 2.5 months, achieving a 44% reduction in R&D time.

Cryopreservation

Improving Cell Preservation Reagent Performance

133% Improvement in Yield

40% Improvement in Functionality

Robust Against Temperature/Concentration Changes

We developed a higher-performance cell preservation reagent for the commercialization of cell-based therapeutics. Through optimization, we identified a reagent composition that improved yield by 133% and cell functionality by 40% compared to commercially available products. The identified composition is also robust against temperature and concentration variations, while avoiding third-party intellectual property.

Cell Therapy

Culture Media Cost Reduction

70% Cost Reduction

Culture media costs for pharmaceutical manufacturing are high. We undertook an initiative to minimize media costs while maintaining comparable performance to improve profitability. Through optimization, we achieved a 70% reduction in total media costs, with projected ongoing savings of over 400 million yen per year.

Cell Therapy

Animal Origin-Free (AOF) Medium Development

Significant Yield Improvement

Achieved AOF

We optimized the media composition for the client's mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) using Epistra Accelerate. After 4 months of condition screening, we discovered a media composition with superior proliferative capacity and significantly reduced raw material costs. All media developed in this project are animal origin-free (AOF), containing no animal or human-derived factors.