Slingshot Biosciences, the leader in precision-engineered cell mimic controls, announced a strategic collaboration with Cellares, the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO). The partnership integrates Slingshot’s TruCytes™ Biomarker controls into Cellares’ Cell Q™, the industry’s first fully automated quality-control (QC) testing platform purpose-built to scale with the Cell Shuttle™, Cellares’ fully automated manufacturing platform that was the first to receive the FDA Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation.

TruCytes biomarker controls represent a major advance in standardized reference materials for flow cytometry. They replicate the optical and biochemical properties of real cells without donor-to-donor variability, delivering the precision and consistency required for modern analytical workflows. For researchers and manufacturers, this reliability translates into lower QC failure rates, improved comparability, and reduced operating costs. By integrating TruCytes directly into its automated QC architecture, Cellares strengthens its control of the entire manufacturing ecosystem, from in-process analytics to final release, setting a new standard for data integrity and scale.

"Slingshot's TruCytes controls provide standardized, ready-to-run inputs for QC across instruments and sites, eliminating the variability and supply constraints that come with donor-based materials," said Fabian Gerlinghaus, CEO and Co-Founder of Cellares. "Integrating them into our Cell Q platform extends the same level of automation, reliability, and traceability that define the Cell Shuttle. It reduces analytical failure rates and enables continuous QC that moves in step with our 24/7 manufacturing network. For our pharma and biotech partners, that means faster, more predictable lot release and the confidence to scale production globally with consistent results."

"Flow cytometry technologies have become increasingly complex, demanding controls that deliver both accuracy and efficiency,” said Glenn Bilawsky, Chief Executive Officer at Slingshot Biosciences. “TruCytes are the first to replicate phenotype and function, enabling researchers and manufacturers to maintain precise calibration across instruments, operators, and sites. They have become the gold standard for QC in flow cytometry. Cellares’ integration of TruCytes within its Cell Q system demonstrates how combining our cell mimic controls with fully automated QC can deliver continuous, reliable testing at industrial scale, exactly what the industry needs to meet global patient demand.”

About Slingshot Biosciences

Slingshot Biosciences builds precision-engineered cell-mimic controls that replace highly variable biological materials currently used in research, development, and manufacturing. Slingshot’s products ensure assay standardization, reproducibility, and accelerate decision-making in biopharma, cell therapy, diagnostics, clinical research, and manufacturing. www.slingshotbio.com.

About Cellares

Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) and takes an Industry 4.0 approach to mass manufacturing the living drugs of the 21st century. The company is developing and operating integrated technologies for cell therapy manufacturing to accelerate access to life-saving cell therapies. The company’s Cell Shuttle™ integrates all the technologies required for the entire manufacturing process in a flexible and high-throughput platform that delivers end-to-end automation. While the Cell Shuttle automates cell therapy manufacturing, the Cell Q™ automates quality control at high throughput, both for in-process and release QC. Cell Shuttles™ and Cell Qs™ will be deployed in Cellares’ Smart Factories around the world, enabling each Smart Factory to produce 10 times as many cell therapy batches as a conventional CDMO with the same facility size and headcount. Partnering with Cellares enables academic medical centers, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies to accelerate cell therapy development and scale out manufacturing, lower process failure rates, lower manufacturing costs, and meet global patient demand.

The company is headquartered in South San Francisco, California with its first commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Cellares is building a global network of IDMO Smart Factories, with additional facilities under construction in Europe and Japan. The company is backed by world-class investors and has raised over $355 million in financing.

For more information about Cellares, please visit cellares.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251028335576/en/

"Slingshot's TruCytes controls provide standardized, ready-to-run inputs for QC across instruments and sites, eliminating the variability and supply constraints that come with donor-based materials," said Fabian Gerlinghaus, CEO and Co-Founder of Cellares