Countdown to SLAS Europe: Unicorn Biotechnologies Ltd

Founded in 2020 by Adam Glen and Jack Reid, Unicorn Biotechnologies develops intelligent instruments to standardize, automate and scale biological workflows, starting with cell culture. Unicorn launched its first instrument product, Emmet, in January 2025.

“Building ‘self-driving labs’ that can autonomously perform biological workflows, analyse data, and design/implement machine-generated hypotheses and experimental conditions will radically increase the ‘shots on goal’ humanity can take in scientific discovery,” says Adam Glen.

Emmet is a benchtop instrument with unified and integrated soft/hardware to automate every step in a cell culture process: from media exchanges and passaging to executing complex differentiation workflows. With onboard, autonomous analytical systems and user defined, machine-driven protocols, Emmet can automate the culture of any cell type, from cell lines to pluripotent stem cells (ESCs/iPSCs). Critically. Emmet can be operated and monitored remotely. Decoupling human labor from cell culture both removes the most variable aspect of any technical workflow – human beings – and frees up your teams’ time to focus on higher value-add tasks, like designing and analyzsing experiments.

“Scientists shouldn’t be shackled to a lab bench, spending their days, nights and weekends moving liquids between plastic containers. We should have intelligent machines that anyone can learn how to use and operate, perform cell culture for us,” says Jack Reid.

Having felt the pain of using lab automation tools, which are often overly complex and typically operated by a single specialist with deep programming knowledge, Unicorn is dedicated to building “biologist-approved” machines with no-code interfaces that anyone can learn how to operate.

Strategically, Unicorn Bio plans to further expand its product pipeline, with ongoing development of new instrumentation to automate well-plate-based workflows, including organoid culture, micro-arrayed suspension culture techniques, and production systems that meet current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards for the manufacture of regenerative medicines and cell-based therapeutics.

Unicorn Biotechnologies has been selected as one of five finalists for the SLAS Ignite Award, chosen by a panel of industry experts convened by the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening. The award recognises early-stage companies demonstrating significant potential to drive innovation in life sciences research.