About The VACSTM Technology and Founding of Cellular Highways Cellular Highways was founded to take fluorescence-based cell sorting into new medical and research applications, requiring fast, gentle, sterile, scalable cell sorting, using the unique potential of the VACS technology. Cellular Highways is a spin-out from TTP plc, based in Melbourn Science Park, Cambridgeshire, UK. Timeline 2016 Our project began within the Life Science department at TTP plc, which had worked on cell sorting problems for several years, applying a range of droplet-handling microdevices to life science instrumentation. We saw the huge potential high-throughput fully-enclosed cell sorting within cell therapy, and the enormous technology challenge to make this a reality. 2016 2017 The idea of VACS was born. Most of the year was spent in the lab, making and testing successive generations of the microfluidic chip that implements this idea, and improving our instrumentation. 2017 2018 First results on human blood samples, with collaborators at GSK (now published in Lab on a Chip). We also got our first feasibility results with a prominent cell therapy partner, showing at, an experimental scale, that the VACS technology was capable of sorting cells in a CART manufacturing process, without loss of cell viability or functionality. 2018 2019 Cellular Highways became a new company, spun out from TTP, with a seed fund to commercialise VACS in single-stream and parallel stream products 2019 2021 Alpha testing of Highway1 begins – we tested with 4 partners covering cell therapy, research, single-cell multi’omics, and liquid biopsy diagnostics 2021 2022 Cellular Highways completed a set of Highway1 beta prototypes, and tested at 16 beta sites 2022 2023 Cellular Highways launches Highway1 for research use, with GMP coming soon 2023 Our parent company, TTP plc TTP is an independent technology company where scientists and engineers collaborate to invent, design and develop new products and technologies. Working across a wide spectrum of industries including health, telecoms, industrials and consumer, TTP creates breakthrough solutions that bring strong commercial value to clients and the benefits of technology to all. Go to ttp.com Read the latest blog posts at ttpblog.com Contact us