NEWS RELEASE

Teijin Frontier Introduces New Nonwoven Microcarriers forSpeedy and Large-scale Cell Culture
Tokyo, Japan, June 28, 2023 --- Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., the Teijin Group’s fibers andproducts converting company, today announced that it has developed a new nonwoven
microcarriers that enable speedy, large-scale, high-quality cell culture. This scaffolding
material for a wide range of cell types facilitates adherence and growth in three dimensions.
The new nonwoven microcarriers combine Teijin Frontier’s proprietary fiber process andnonwoven design technology and fiber-related bio-medical expertise by Professor Satoshi
Fujita at Department of Frontier Fiber Technology and Science, Faculty of Engineering,
University of Fukui, Japan.

Teijin Frontier’s new nonwoven microcarriers

Teijin Frontier will start shipping the samples of the new nonwoven microcarriers to research
institutes, universities, pharmaceutical manufacturers and cosmetics manufacturers
beginning in July. In 2024, the company plans to expand marketing of the new nonwoven
microcarriers worldwide aiming for global sales of JPY 100 million in fiscal 2026. Thanks toits special structure, which is physically similar to the space in which cells proliferate in vivo,
new nonwoven microcarriers enable cells to grow along its fibers in three dimensions. It
also facilitates circulation of the culture medium and oxygen necessary for cell growth. Thisnew microcarriers are appropriate for a variety of cell lines and can be used to culture
mesenchymal stem cell. Mesenchymal stem cell is diverse cell with self-renewal anddifferentiation abilities. Therefore, they are expected to be used in regenerative medicines
as they can effectively to differentiate into human functions such as nerves, muscles andbones.
Cell culture technology is playing a major role in regenerative medicine. Traditional cellculture generally uses two-dimensional planar technology such as culture dishes and Tflasks; however, the cell adhesion area is small, hundreds of dishes are required to culture
a few grams of tissue, and extensive equipment, personnel and man-hours are required.
Using cell culture bioreactors, which are capable of culturing a large number of cells, canimprove efficiency. Microcarriers are used as scaffolding materials for bioreactors, a device

that perform biochemical reactions with their mixing capabilities, to control cell adhesion,
proliferation and differentiation. Conventional microcarriers are generally shaped like beads,
but with the diversification of cell lines and culture methods, new types of microcarriers thatenable higher-volume, higher-quality cultures.
The new nonwoven microcarriers can be used in cell culture methods that employ fixed bed
bioreactors or agitation bioreactors. The new nonwoven microcarriers are particularly
effective when the bioreactor has no agitating blades. Combining shaking of the culture
with mild shear force allows the new nonwoven microcarriers to collect a sufficient numberof cells within a week without changing the culture medium.
Another advantage of the new nonwoven microcarriers are their nonwoven high porous
structure and therefore has a large surface area. This larger area allows more cells to becultured than with conventional scaffolding materials. Teijin Frontier’s researchdemonstrated that the new nonwoven microcarriers are possible to increase the number ofcells by 30 percent in a culture period of four days, compared to conventional bead-type
microcarriers.
* Cells elongate
along fibers

Shaking culture using the newnonwoven microcarriers

Optical microscope image of cell culture using the newnonwoven microcarriers
ecellbaTeijin Frontier will unveil the new nonwoven microcarriers at the 5th Regenerative Medicine
Expo at Tokyo Big Sight on July 5-7. (East 4 Hall, Stand #30-35).
About the Teijin Group
Teijin (TSE: 3401) is a technology-driven global group with two core businesses: highperformance materials and healthcare solutions. Established in 1918 as Japan’s first rayon
manufacturer, Teijin today comprises some 170 companies employing 20,000 people in 20
countries. Through “Human Chemistry, Human Solutions,” Teijin relentlessly strives to aims
to be a company that supports the society of the future by protecting the global environment
and addressing the needs of people and communities. Teijin posted consolidated sales ofJPY 1,018.8 billion (USD 7.6 billion) and total assets of JPY 1,242.4 billion (USD 9.2 billion)in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.
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Teijin Limited
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