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ATCC expansion targets future coronaviruses

Kate Andrews //December 31, 2024//

Rebecca Bradford with ATCC Federal Solutions says demand for biomaterials has “exploded” since the pandemic. Photo by Will Schermerhorn

Rebecca Bradford with ATCC Federal Solutions says demand for biomaterials has “exploded” since the pandemic. Photo by Will Schermerhorn

ATCC expansion targets future coronaviruses

Kate Andrews // December 31, 2024//

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Rebecca Bradford raises a scary thought: “What if we were hit with two pathogens at the same time?” For example, what if, as COVID-19 was hitting the country in early 2020, a flu virus had been spreading too?

It’s a distinct possibility in the future, and scientists are working hard to establish quick and effective responses to new viruses, including at Prince William County’s American Type Culture Collection.
Bradford, vice president of government programs for ATCC Federal Solutions, explains why the bioscience organization is investing $54.7 million to build a new biomanufacturing facility set to open in 2026. It will produce virus stocks and reagents that can help researchers test potential vaccines, medications and tests.

“This facility gives us that infrastructure that wasn’t there [in early 2020],” she says. “It will focus on making sure that there’s access to both industry and our federal partners to these biomaterials … and can really, when needed, upscale production.”

Founded in 1925, ATCC maintains the world’s largest and most diverse collection of human and animal cell products, as well as molecular genomic tools, microbe products and biological materials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization are among its clients.

Recalling early 2020, Bradford says that there was high demand for biomaterials to develop tests, vaccines and therapeutic medicines to deal with COVID-19, which was spreading much faster than other types of viruses and killing thousands of people. Since then, she says, requests for biomaterials have “exploded exponentially.”

Located adjacent to George Mason University’s Science and Technology Campus, ATCC expects to hire about 75 more staffers, and it has internal development programs, as well as partnerships with local universities and colleges.

In 2023, ATCC received a $3.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research Infrastructure Programs to support the building of the biomanufacturing suite.

With President Donald Trump returning to office this month, Bradford says that the new administration may have different focus areas for biotech than the Biden White House, but since ATCC’s expansion is already funded and underway, its future is relatively secure.

“Biomanufacturing … is something that’s going to be bipartisan,” she says. “It’s important to have manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and not to rely on offshoring a lot of our pharmaceutical and biologic development.”

 

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