Invitrogen opens hepatocyte facility in Warrington, UK

Published: 3-Dec-2009

Invitrogen, part of Life Technologies Corporation, is to supply freshly isolated human hepatocytes to scientists in Europe from a new facility in Warrington, UK.


Invitrogen, part of Life Technologies Corporation, is to supply freshly isolated human hepatocytes to scientists in Europe from a new facility in Warrington, UK.

Scientists in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors use human hepatocytes isolated from liver tissue when trying to predict a compound's effect on enzyme metabolism in the liver.

The new facility in Warrington will supplement an existing service in North Carolina, US.

Fresh hepatocytes have a short shelf life, but they maintain key functions important for monitoring drug metabolism in vitro. Invitrogen has developed a Rapid Alert email notification system so that researchers can quickly be made aware of the availability of fresh cells.

"Our new facility is part of Life Technologies" ongoing commitment to serving the needs of cell biologists in Europe," said Nicolas Barthelemy, president of Life Technologies" cell systems division.

Rob Brainin, vice president and general manager of Invitrogen Hepatic Biology (CellzDirect) at Life Technologies, added: "The Warrington site will help us to ensure rapid access to high quality hepatocytes, for researchers investigating liver function and compound metabolism across a range of market sectors."

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