Hera BioLabs is a contract research organization (CRO) utilizing gene editing technologies to create enabling preclinical research models for oncology & immuno-oncology. Hera’s platform model, the OncoRat SRG, is a SCID rat on the Sprague-Dawley background harboring a double knockout for the Rag2 and Il2rgamma genes. This enhanced immunodeficient rat model has a severely impaired immune system lacking B-cells, T-cells, and NK-cells. The OncoRat overcomes limitations of mouse models for xenograft efficacy studies. For example, the OncoRat enables tumor cell line xenograft models that were previously inefficient or not feasible in mouse models. While the long timeline required for the establishment of patient derived xenografts or PDX models in mice is often impractical; the OncoRat grows ~10x larger tumors enabling PDX establishment and efficacy studies in fewer passages and a shorter amount of time.
Latest Hera News
- Hera Biolabs announces Molecular Cancer Therapeutics publication on immunodeficient rats for oncology research -
- OncoRat® PDX models highlighted in Drug Discovery News (DDN) Special Report on Cancer: Aiming for Avatars -
- Humanized immune-system SRG Rats™ & mice for immuno-oncology - The SRG rat demonstrates robust immune-system humanization with peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the huPBMC-SRG rat™. First published in Hera's 2017 AACR-EORTC-NCI Molecular Targets poster Novel immunodeficient rat models offers a unique platform for drug efficacy studies in human tumor xenografts. Humanized SRG rats may have advantages in immuno-oncology, in particular for tumor models with low take-rates in mice. Hera is Continue Reading >
Preclinical Oncology Insights
Check out the latest updates from our quarterly newsletter which provides information on new R&D, publications, model development & industry trends in the three categories below.
- The OncoRat®: Hosting valuable tumor xenograft models that are difficult or impossible to study using in vitro or mouse models - One of the most widely used methods of modeling human tumor biology for preclinical research is the use of xenografts. Xenografts are generated by implanting human tumor cells under the skin or directly into the organ type of interest in immunocompromised rodents that will not reject the human tumor cells. Depending on the number of tumor cells injected and the Continue Reading >
- Patient derived xenograft studies from wider varieties of patient sub-populations promise improved clinical trial selection and design -
- Hera Biolabs to present at the 2018 AACR Annual Meeting. - Hera Biolabs will be presenting xenograft, PDX, and humanization of the immune system data from our new immunodeficient OncoRat SRG model at the up coming AACR 2018 Annual Meeting. POSTER: Title: The SRG Rat™: A novel SCID rat for humanization studies Title: Translational Therapeutics in Cancer Models 1 Date and Time: Monday Apr 16, 2018 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM Continue Reading >