Cellino Biotech is building an ultra-scalable, autonomous, high-precision biomanufacturing platform to produce personalized regenerative cells and tissues. Its NEBULA program focuses on a cassette-based approach intended to scale production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) at hospitals nationwide. The company combines AI-guided, laser-based cell management and a proprietary optical bioprocess to automate manual, artisanal steps and reduce variability. Cellino aims to lower costs for patient-specific regenerative medicines and improve access and equity by minimizing immune-related complications. NEBULA targets deployment to accelerate therapies for conditions including Parkinson’s, heart disease, spinal cord injury, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetes. The company is based in Cambridge, Mass. Cellino Bio is building an autonomous, closed-loop platform to manufacture induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) at scale. Its core technologies combine a laser-based cell-editing system to remove or modify cells with machine learning algorithms that identify subpar cells. The company aims to create a fully autonomous human cell foundry by 2025 to address manufacturing bottlenecks in regenerative medicine. Cellino is collaborating with Kapil Bharti’s team at the National Eye Institute and will manufacture iPSCs for an upcoming clinical trial intended to transplant personalized iPSCs into patient retinas, with the longer-term goal of an iPSC-derived retinal pigment epithelium product. Post‑raise, Cellino plans to expand hiring to boost its machine learning capacity and to build a comparability dataset to show its cells match clinical-grade lines in safety and quality. Financially, the company announced an $80M Series A and has $96M in total funding to date. Cellino develops an automated platform that combines AI, machine learning, hardware, software and laser-based cellular editing to identify and remove low-quality cells in stem-cell manufacturing. The system trains on large datasets and uses morphology and fluorescence-based assays to classify cells, then targets unwanted cells with a laser that creates cavitation bubbles at ~5-micron resolution. That approach yields throughput of about 5,000 cells per minute and aims to raise usable cell yields from current manual rates (~10–20%) to at least 80% within three years. The company projects its automation could cut per-patient manufacturing costs from nearly $1M for outsourced production down toward the tens of thousands over time. Founded by scientists with backgrounds in physics, stem cell biology and machine learning, leadership includes CEO Nabiha Saklayen (who patented cellular laser editing at Harvard), co-founder Marinna Madrid and CTO Mattias Wagner. Cellino is collaborating with the NIH on compatibility studies and has presented at TechCrunch Disrupt to source talent and promote democratization of cell therapies.

Total raised

$121M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Grant

Latest activity

Sep 2024