TCNJ

23 WINTER 2018 bioreactors, Olsen hopes to produce stem cells quickly enough, and cheaply enough, to make regenerative medicine practical. RoosterBio has already managed to drive the cost of producing 100 million cells down to just $1,000 — a tenfold decrease — and it aims to get that down to $100 in the near future and change the industry. Olsen is leading the company's eort to develop a 50-liter bioreactor for the U.S. Army, which will be key to kick-starting regenerative medicine for soldiers on the battlefield and veterans back home. Such a supersized bioreactor would occupy a 15-by- 15-foot room and generate 35 billion cells in a single run — more than 20 times as many as the company can produce today in one of its standard three-liter models. Olsen estimates it will take three to five years before these giant bioreactors will be ready to produce stem cells for clinical purposes. Once that happens, RoosterBio will eectively be the Intel of regenerative medicine, with stem cells serving as the microchips that power tomorrow's medical products. "Intel pioneered the production of powerful computer chips in bulk at lower cost, making computers available to all," Olsen says. "At RoosterBio, we want to provide high-quality stem cells in bulk to radically simplify the development of new therapies. [It] will finally make the dream of regenerative medicine a reality." Ready when you are Olsen pulls a rack of human stem cell vials out of a dewar, where they stay frozen in liquid nitrogen until needed for experiments.

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