Van Heron Labs

Van Heron Labs is a company dedicated to developing technologies that enhance the health of humans and the planet. By leveraging genetics, bioinformatics, and AI, the company unifies nutrient substrates with metabolic fingerprints to optimize the entire bio-value chain. Their offerings include Ser-X media optimization services, which help optimize cultures by improving cell health, maximizing performance, and increasing ROI. Van Heron Labs’ technologies are relevant across multiple industries, including Cellular Agriculture, Biologics, Cell Therapy, Gene Therapy, Precision Fermentation, and Stem Cell Applications, and can be deployed in any setting involving organic or biological matter.

The company’s platform streamlines the cell culturing process by reducing unnecessary metabolic steps, increasing cell density and titer, lowering bio-manufacturing costs, and maximizing efficiency. Utilizing bioinformatics, AI tools, and chemistry, Van Heron Labs finds the best formula for individual cell types, enhancing the robustness of the bio-process and the value chain at the molecular level. They offer a full-service custom media formulation process based on multi-omics data and precision nutrition, as well as an express version for those needing a list of macro and micronutrients.

Van Heron Labs’ technology has led to significant improvements in cell growth and productivity, including up to 70% reductions in cost for mammalian cells and up to 90% increases in growth for microbial cells. Their Ser-X service helps eliminate non-defined media components and transition to chemically-defined culture. The company specializes in micro-environment engineering, basal media formulations, supplements and feeds, bioreactor additives, and transitioning to chemically defined culture, regularly achieving multiple fold changes in titer for both cell density and protein production, reducing costs by 70-90%.

Instead of physical products, Van Heron Labs provides formulations and recommendations, making their solutions scalable and regulatory friendly. They offer precision nutrition as a service for high-fidelity research and therapeutics testing and are developing new offerings such as transfection reagents and pluronic replacements. Using advanced computing innovations and comprehensive genetic profiles, the company optimizes media formulations, partnering with entities in biologics production, precision fermentation, tissue culture, and precision medicine. Their personalized service includes four customization options: Basal media, Expression Feed, Growth Feed, and Chemically Defined: Ser-X. Van Heron Labs’ streamlined process for media formulation includes project planning, formulation, formula testing, and commercialization, using genetic information to determine the optimal nutrient profile for each bacterial strain and mammalian cell type. Their precision approach to media and feed design pinpoints optimal ratios of 20-70 components, resulting in significant improvements in cell viability, cell density, and productivity/titer in both bacteria and mammalian cells.