Dundee Cell Products - supplying life science tools and services

University of spinout company Dundee for our needs,” he says. “If we were having such Cell Products provides life-sciences technology and problems, so must other people – offering a market Impact Summary reagents to the academic research community and to opportunity for the supply of bespoke reagents and Spinout company Dundee Cell Products was companies involved in the discovery and development contract services.” established in 2006 by of new drugs. researchers in response to a need for high Since it began, the company’s portfolio has grown from quality and Dundee Cell Products (DCP) was founded in 2006 an original 20 products to over 5,000 in the current reagents. by Angus Lamond1, Professor of at the catalogue. Their collection covers a broad spectrum University of Dundee’s College of Life Sciences and Dr of life science research by providing various reagents, Paul Ajuh, a former senior research fellow at Dundee. including the custom production of genes, vectors, BBSRC funding contributed to the proteomics antibodies and recombinant proteins. technology deployed by the company. Dundee The company was established while Lamond was Cell Products reagents and services have also working on BBSRC-funded research projects. “Impetus The company also offers ready-to-use tissue culture contributed to BBSRC-funded research. for setting up DCP came from the difficulty and media. This includes media specifically designed frustration we were experiencing from trying to source for SILAC (stable isotope labelling by amino acids Dundee Cell Products now has an international cell-culture and molecular biology reagents of the high in cell culture), proteomics, and research services customer base and has expanded their portfolio quality we needed for our research. What was available and materials that support molecular and cell biology from 20 to more than 5,000 products. The commercially was often either unreliable, or unsuitable researchers. company also provides research services such as DNA cloning, protein expression and purification, stable cell line development, and quantitative proteomics.

Petri dish. Credit: Dundee Cell Products DCP products and services are now being used by in 20137, as an example of a major BBSRC project in researchers across the UK and further afield, including which DCP is able to contribute effectively to the aims groups in Europe (e.g. Denmark, Austria and the and goals of this ambitious and important project to Netherlands), Canada and Hong Kong2. One of DCP’s tackle FMDV.” customers, Professor Martin Ryan from the University of St. Andrews, says his research group have used DCP Research services to provide numerous synthetic ‘gene blocks’, polyclonal antibodies and a number of molecular biological ‘kits’; The company also identified a gap in the market for all with great success. “The advantage in using a research services in the areas of molecular and cell spinout company such as DCP is that their academic biology that would enable scientists in academic and background and company ethos facilitates a dialogue commercial institutions to speed up their research specific to one s product needs – the level of technical output. support and advice is, in my experience, unparalleled.” “We can quickly and efficiently perform routine Path to growth DCP Laboratory. Credit: Dundee Cell Products activities such as DNA cloning, protein expression and purification, and stable cell line development. These Now in its seventh year, DCP is providing employment scientific adviser to the company while working as a free up researchers to focus on high-value areas of and a career path for highly-skilled scientists trained Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow at the Centre experimental design and carry out non-routine assays, in life science research. The company has grown for Gene Regulation and Expression in the College of enabling them to obtain publishable results much from one full-time employee when it was set up to a Life Sciences4,5. sooner,” says Ajuh. “In addition to the expertise we’ve current staff of nine, seven of whom hold PhDs, the developed that enables us to offer these products and majority with post-doctoral experience. Several of the “Based on my personal funding from BBSRC, the services, we also offer quantitative proteomics, which employees graduated from the University of Dundee, recently-completed collaborative RASOR (radical includes SILAC, iTRAQ and label-free. The company’s or were previously employees of the College of Life solutions for researching the proteome) grant6, portfolio of products and services is catering for a Sciences. In addition, DCP contributes to the training which was focussed on developing the field of mass multibillion-dollar global market8. This clearly has a of future research scientists and potential life-science spectrometry-based proteomics, including SILAC, bearing on the increase in our turnover which, since the entrepreneurs through its involvement in five PhD contributed most directly to DCP operations,” says company’s formation, has been running at a year-on- BBSRC CASE studentships. Lamond. “I’d also highlight the BBSRC strategic longer year compound annual growth rate of over 40 per cent.” and larger grant entitled ‘The molecular biology of foot- Ajuh now works full-time as the chief executive officer and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) replication: towards Looking to the future, through collaborative research of Dundee Cell Products (DCP)3, while Lamond is a new methods of FMDV disease control’, which started activities carried out in-house and with the University of Dundee9, the company plans to commercialise a range of innovative life-science research products and Notes and References services. In the next three to four years it aims to target 1. www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/people/angus-lamond The following is a selection of publications from the company the important fields of stem cell and cancer research, 2. [Reference/webpage no longer available – June 2017] founders, as well as several produced in collaboration with 3. www.dundeecellproducts.com academics using Dundee Cell Products’ services: and drug discovery and development. 4. www.lifesci.dundee.ac.uk/gre/home 5. www.lamondlab.com • Babaei F, Ramalingam R, Tavendale A, Liang Y, Yan LS, Ajuh 6. £11M for the next step in bioscience [Reference/webpage no P, Cheng SH, Lam YW. (2013) Novel Blood Collection Method longer available – Feb 2016] Allows Plasma Proteome Analysis from Single Zebrafish J 7. The Molecular Biology of FMDV Replication: Towards New Proteome Res. 12(4): 1580–1590 Methods of FMDV Disease Control www.bbsrc.ac.uk/pa/ • Cai X, Ramalingam R, Wong HS, Cheng J, Ajuh P, Cheng SH, grants/AwardDetails.aspx?FundingReference=BB% Lam YW. (2012) Characterization of carbon nanotube protein 2fK003801%2f1 corona by using quantitative proteomics. Nanomedicine 8. The global market for cell biology reagents was estimated to S1549-9634(12)00597-7. be worth $10Bn in 2010. See: http://www.bccresearch.com/ • Dove BK, Surtees R, Bean TJ, Munday D, Wise HM, Digard P, market-research//lifescience-tools-reagents- Carroll MW, Ajuh P, Barr JN, Hiscox JA (2012) A quantitative bio083a.html proteomic analysis of lung epithelial (A549) cells infected with 9. From loyalty cards to proteomics and the birth of the 2009 pandemic influenza A virus using stable isotope labelling super experiment [Reference/webpage no longer available – with amino acids in cell culture. Proteomics. 12(9): 1431-6. Feb 2016] • Wagner W, Ajuh P, Löwer J, Wessler S. (2011) Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis of prion-infected neuronal cells. Cell Commun Signal. 8:28. • Emmott E, Rodgers MA, Macdonald A, McCrory S, Ajuh P, Hiscox JA. (2010) Quantitative proteomics using stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture reveals changes in the cytoplasmic, nuclear, and nucleolar proteomes in Vero cells infected with the coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus. Mol Cell Proteomics. 9(9): 1920-36.