• Jellagen® launches their first purified jellyfish collagen hydrogel: JellaGelTM
• Jellyfish’s unique physiology means its collagen has distinct advantages over mammal-derived and synthetic materials
• Batch-to-batch consistency of jellyfish collagen can greatly improve lab management

JellaGelTM, jellyfish collagen hydrogel, suitable for 3D cell culture and tissue engineering launches today to offer a solution to different challenges facing laboratory technicians. Jellyfish collagen constitutes an ancient chemical template of all collagens and is one of the main reasons

JellaGelTM is a versatile hydrogel product. Jellagen has developed a unique manufacturing process, JellatechTM, that allows laboratory technicians to scale up the production of the material and also capitalise on the simple physiology of jellyfish to support batch-to-batch consistency.

Unlike mammalian collagens, JellaGelTM is free from carry-over contaminants (e.g. proteins, polysaccharides, disease
vectors). It also contains significantly lower non-specific miRNA than mammalian collagens, reducing off-target effects. When compared with synthetic materials, manyof which are based on β-structured fibrous materials, jellyfish collagen is bioresorbable and non-toxic to cells, from stem to lineage cells.

In a recent collaborative study with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) as part of Innovate UK’s Analysis forInnovators (A4I) programme, Jellagen sought to develop a robust protocol for the culturing of cell lines in three dimensions. The study performed an in-depth analysis of jellyfish collagen materials and showed that these are able to effectively encapsulate cells, while retaining their viability.

Barrel jellyfish, Rhizostoma pulmo

Nilofar Faruqui, a research scientist from the National Physical Laboratory who led the project, said: “3D tissue scaffolds such as hydrogels hold great promise for biomedicine including applications in cell therapies and regenerative medicine. One of the challenges for the commercialisation of these materials requires establishing reproducible interdependencies between their physicochemical and biological properties. This has been an exciting collaboration that has provided us with new insights into how solving this challenge can help develop high value materials into high performance products.”

The founder of Jellagen®, Professor Andrew Mearns Spragg, a Scottish marine biotechnology pioneer, is excited to launch the non-mammalian and entirely natural collagen hydrogel: “The A4I collaboration with NPL’sBiometrology team has provided us with crucial information that we are implementing right away to develop the next generation of our products. We are launching this new product pipeline under a collective name of JellaGelTM that we believe will significantly improve the development and use of 3D cell cultures, from research lab to clinic.”

For more information on NPL’s work on biometrology: https://www.npl.co.uk/biometrology.

For more information on JellaGel: https://www.jellagen.co.uk/products/cell-culture-reagents/jellagel/

For more information on the Analysis for Innovators programme: https://www.npl.co.uk/analysis-for-innovators.