Axol Bioscience, a biotechnology company specialising in the supply of primary and stem cell-derived human cells for use in disease modelling and drug discovery, announces the launch of its Custom Cell and Tissue Sourcing service. The new service will be of use to all researchers working in these areas who require access to primary human cells and tissues. These can be difficult to obtain, especially when studying rare diseases or specific donor criteria are required.

Axol aims to provide cells and tissues that meet specific research requirements to enable the development of highly relevant cellular models that better reflect the biology of the tissue or disease.

Axol Custom Cell and Tissue Sourcing includes a broad range of human primary cell and tissue types from both healthy individuals and patient donors. The company specialises in sourcing a wide variety of primary cancer tissues. Many of these samples are collected prior to treatment so the tissue is naïve, thereby reducing the influence of potentially confounding variables when studying the effects of anti-cancer compounds on these cells. Axol also provides biological specimens such as blood and tissues from a wide range of other clinical indications. These include autoimmune diseases (e.g. type I diabetes), digestive tract (e.g. Crohn’s disease), neurological (e.g. Parkinson’s, Huntington’s or Alzheimer’s diseases), pulmonary (e.g. asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)), cardiovascular, kidney and bladder disorders, liver cirrhosis and skin conditions.

Axol already offers a growing range of human primary cells including hepatocytes, fibroblasts, hematopoietic, epithelial, muscle and mesenchymal stem cells. Dr Michael Prater, Primary Cells product manager, Axol Bioscience said: ‘We are excited to be expanding our primary product portfolio by providing an extensive resource of biological specimens from various backgrounds. We’re dedicated to ensuring our customers have the tools they need to generate biologically relevant cell-based assays that advance their research and we will endeavour to source samples that meet their experimental requirements’.

All primary human cells provided by Axol are cryopreserved. Tissue samples are available as either fresh frozen, formalin-fixed or paraffin-embedded.