CellChorus

Company Overview

CellChorus is a biotechnology company that applies visual AI to evaluate how individual cells move, behave, and interact over time. The company was founded as a spinout from the Single Cell Lab at the University of Houston. CellChorus is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with additional facilities in South San Francisco, California.

The company’s core technology is the TIMING™ (Time-lapse Imaging Microscopy in Nanowell Grids) platform, which uses artificial intelligence and advanced microscopy to conduct high-throughput, dynamic analysis of single cells. This allows researchers to visualize and quantify cell activation, killing, movement, and biomolecule secretion at the individual cell level.

Products Overview

CellChorus’ main product offering is its TIMING™ platform, which consists of:

1. Nanowell array technology for isolating and imaging individual cells

2. Time-lapse fluorescence microscopy to capture cell behavior over time

3. AI-powered image analysis to track and quantify cell dynamics

4. Data analytics to extract insights on cell function and performance

The TIMING platform enables researchers to:

• Evaluate cell migration, contact dynamics, cytotoxicity, survival, and biomolecule secretion at high-throughput and single-cell resolution
• Link functional data on cell behavior to molecular profiling data like single-cell RNA sequencing
• Identify top-performing cells for further analysis or development

CellChorus offers TIMING as a service to biopharma companies and academic researchers. The company can analyze customer-provided cell samples or work with customers to design custom assays.

Founding Team

The key founders and leaders of CellChorus include:

• Navin Varadarajan, Ph.D. - Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Varadarajan is the inventor of the TIMING technology and a professor at the University of Houston.

• Daniel Meyer - Chief Executive Officer. Meyer has experience as an entrepreneur and investor in life sciences and information technology companies.

• Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D. - Co-founder and Board Chair. Dr. Cooper is the former CEO of Alaunos Therapeutics and an expert in cell therapies.

Problem and Market Fit

CellChorus aims to address limitations in existing methods for analyzing cell function and behavior, particularly for cell therapy development. Traditional bulk assays and static single-cell analyses cannot capture the dynamic performance of individual cells over time.

The TIMING platform enables researchers to directly visualize and quantify how thousands of individual immune cells or other cell types interact with target cells, migrate, and secrete biomolecules. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of cellular function compared to endpoint assays.

The technology is particularly valuable for cell therapy companies developing treatments like CAR-T cells, where understanding the behavior of individual engineered cells is critical. CellChorus’ customers include top biopharmaceutical companies working on cell therapies, antibodies, and other immune-based treatments.

Business Model

CellChorus operates on a fee-for-service model, providing TIMING analysis as a service to biopharma companies and academic researchers. Customers send cell samples to CellChorus, which then conducts the TIMING assays and provides analyzed data and insights back to the customer.

The company also engages in collaborations and partnerships to further develop and validate the TIMING technology for specific applications. CellChorus has received multiple government grants to advance its platform.

Funding and Runway

CellChorus has received funding from several sources:

• Venture capital investment from Breakout Ventures and other firms
• Participation in Y Combinator’s accelerator program
• Multiple SBIR grants from the NIH and NSF, including:
  • $2.5 million SBIR Fast-Track grant from NCATS (May 2024)
  • $2.3 million SBIR Fast-Track grant from NIGMS (June 2023)
  • SBIR grant from NSF (June 2023)

The company has not publicly disclosed total funding amounts or runway information.

Competitive Landscape

CellChorus positions itself as the only company providing high-throughput, dynamic single-cell analysis that integrates cell behavior with molecular profiling. Some potential competitors in the broader single-cell analysis space include:

• Berkeley Lights - Offers cell analysis and sorting platforms
• IsoPlexis - Provides single-cell proteomics and metabolomics platforms
• 10x Genomics - Offers single-cell sequencing solutions

However, these companies generally focus on static molecular analysis rather than dynamic functional analysis of cells over time.

Customers

CellChorus’ customers include:

• Top-25 biopharmaceutical companies
• Small-cap public biopharmaceutical companies
• Early stage developers of novel therapies

The company has not disclosed specific customer names publicly.

Relevant News

• May 2024: Nature Cancer publication uses TIMING to identify clinically effective subsets of CAR-T cells
• May 2024: Awarded $2.5M SBIR grant from NCATS
• November 2023: Won Houston Life Sciences Business of the Year award
• August 2023: Selected for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200
• July 2023: Joined NVIDIA Inception program for AI startups
• June 2023: Awarded $2.3M SBIR grant from NIGMS
• July 2022: Selected for BioTools Innovator Accelerator program
• October 2021: Expanded commercial and R&D facilities in Houston
• September 2021: Presented at Y Combinator Demo Day as part of Summer 2021 batch