Saku Biosciences and Sable Fermentation, Inc. announced a partnership on September 23, 2026 giving U.S. customers a single agreement covering the full biomanufacturing development path, from strain engineering through scale-up and formulation. Mark van Zee, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Saku Biosciences, said: “Platform technologies in this industry have been hard to commercialize. We recognized early that we needed to innovate on the business side as much as the technical side. Two specialized companies, designed to feel like one to the customer, gets you the best of both models. You keep the depth, and you drop the friction.”
Pairing Strain Screening With a Wake Forest Scale-Up Facility
Los Angeles-based Saku engineers host cell products using its PicoShell technology, which encapsulates millions of individual cells in hydrogel microparticles that can be grown and screened under real bioreactor conditions rather than in well plates or microfluidic chips — technology originating in the Dino Di Carlo lab at UCLA and exclusively licensed to Saku. Sable Fermentation, based in Wake Forest, North Carolina, is a bioprocess development and de-risking facility offering fermentation from 1 liter to 200 liters, downstream processing, formulation, and analytical services for food, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology customers. Sable founder and CEO Toni Bucci, Ph.D., said the partnership closes a gap she’d seen repeatedly in the field: “We saw an opportunity to solve one of the biggest inefficiencies in bioprocess development: the disconnect between strain selection and the conditions a strain will ultimately face at scale. Saku’s technology allows us to start with strains selected for performance under relevant bioreactor conditions, and then carry those strains directly into process development, scale-up and formulation. For our customers, that means fewer handoffs, less technical risk and a much more efficient path from biology to a commercially viable product.”
One Master Agreement, No Back-End Royalties
Under the arrangement, customers sign a single master service agreement spanning both companies’ work, with compensation structured around success fees rather than back-end royalties or any ownership claim on customer intellectual property. Saku co-founder and Chief Business Officer John Alden framed the deal structure as the point: “The question we kept coming back to was simple. Who is the client sitting across the table from? Biotechnology has been a collection of disparate firms for a long time. We wanted the answer to be one team.” Bucci said the two companies found each other through North Carolina’s biotech network: “We were very keen to partner with a company bringing an innovative solution to strain engineering. The North Carolina ecosystem made that introduction happen.” The companies say they expect to announce regional development and workforce opportunities in the coming months, though neither the specifics nor a timeline are disclosed yet.
About Sable Fermentation, Inc.
Sable Fermentation is a biomanufacturing process development and de-risking facility focused on bringing innovations to scale. Based in Wake Forest, North Carolina, Sable provides bioprocess development, fermentation from 1L to 200L, downstream processing, formulation, and analytical services, taking customers from early development through readiness for commercial manufacturing. Sable serves food, agriculture, and industrial biotechnology customers developing crop enhancement and protection products, food proteins, enzymes, and specialty chemicals.
About Saku Biosciences
Saku Biosciences is a venture-backed Los Angeles company engineering host cell products that improve biomanufacturing economics. Saku’s PicoShell technology encapsulates millions of individual cells in hollow, porous hydrogel microparticles that can be grown and screened under real bioreactor conditions rather than in well plates or microfluidic chips, so that selected strains translate to production. The company is backed by Big Idea Ventures and continues to develop its own host cell products alongside its work with partners.
