Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH launched the first "Laupheimer Zelltage" with a symposium on "Cell Factories of the Future". Henceforth, the conference will take place every two years. The event took place on October 14 and15 at the facilities of Rentschler Biotechnologie in Laupheim, Germany and was supported by the biotech cluster BioRegion Ulm and the Industry and Commerce (IHK) of Ulm.

‘Cell Factories of the Future' was not only the motto of this year's conference but also reflected the focus of the three-part lecture series on cells, factories, and the future of recombinant protein production.

Over 70 leading scientists from industry and academia gathered to discuss hot topics such as rational process development using functional genomics, ways to overcome impaired protein expression, and the analysis of the genome and transcriptome of CHO cells using next generation sequencing technology (part I, Cells).

The second lecture series dealt with the role of minicircle vectors in generating cell lines with predictable productivity, rational approaches to growth media development, and how to generate a ‘happy protein' in sufficient quantity and quality (part II, Factories).

Presentations on the role of small RNAs in cellular engineering and on tools to optimize process development completed the symposium program (part III, Future).

"We are very proud to announce the launch of the "Laupheimer Zelltage" and to welcome world-class scientific leaders to our facilities in Laupheim, says Dr. Nikolaus F. Rentschler, CEO of Rentschler Biotechnologie. "We initiated this event to enhance discussions and networking at the cutting edge of development in cell technology and in this way, advance biomanufacturing."

The report of the symposium and the abstracts of the presentations can be downloaded at http://www.rentschler.de/dl3