- Contact
-
- North America
- EMEA
Culture Biosciences is transforming life science R&D with automated, scalable bioprocess development using cloud-connected bioreactors that link data management and automated process control needed for experimental research. Culture Biosciences offers complete upstream support for biopharma and synthetic biology innovations, including dedicated suites for process analytics, cloud-native hardware, and data-driven solutions for hybrid model development.
Arena PLM and Onshape CAD
Arena is the daily go-to hub for product record, training, sourcing, and manufacturing information
Significantly reduces rework and improves time to market
In the world of bioprocess development, agility, precision, and control are essential. Culture Biosciences, a pioneering cloud lab for high-throughput bioreactor experimentation, has rapidly evolved from offering bioprocessing as a service to launching external hardware and software products.
As the company scaled, so did the complexity of managing hardware development, quality assurance, compliance, and manufacturing operations while driving the need for more formal and controlled processes.
The Culture Biosciences journey began with a highly technical vision—to provide bioprocessing experimentation as a service using proprietary bioreactors managed remotely through their “Culture Console” software. Initially, the company relied on internally run services but pivoted to include hardware sales with the launch of Stratyx, a 250 milliliter (mL) bioreactor designed for external customers.
This shift from services to products brought new challenges. Managing complex product information, bills of materials (BOMs), sourcing details, and engineering change orders (ECOs) became increasingly difficult using manual processes and disconnected systems.
—Nick Lester, Mechanical Engineer, Hardware R&D Team, Culture Biosciences
To address these new demands, Culture Biosciences adopted the Onshape Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Arena Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions from PTC. Onshape was selected to replace an existing on-premises CAD solution. The company needed a new CAD that offered a more robust modeling program, access to other parts of the business, and a system where teams could easily work across the company.
“Our previous CAD solution was chosen early on because it was low cost and ran on Macs, but it wasn’t suited for enterprise-level CAD work,” said Nick Lester, Mechanical Engineer with Culture Biosciences’ Hardware R&D Team. “We didn’t want to replace all our Macs so we needed a solution that could work across platforms. Onshape got the final nod due to both the price and flexibility of being able to work on all our devices.”
Gwen Luke, an NPI Engineer with the R&D Team at Culture Biosciences, noted, “I like the fact that Onshape is cloud-native. We don’t have to worry about things like servers crashing, and I don’t have to go in on Saturdays to upgrade the system like I did with my previous company.”
Prior to using Arena PLM, the team was utilizing a combination of spreadsheets and Onshape release tools to manage BOMs. Nick said, “If we wanted to lock a BOM, that would be an Onshape release purely on the Onshape side and then it would be exported to a spreadsheet.”
The real breakthrough was the Connection between Arena and Onshape. This move gave the company an established seamless synchronization between engineering and operations, the ability to manage compliance needs, and laid a scalable foundation for future growth.
“We were one of the first teams to start using the Connection between Arena and Onshape. We had sandboxes in both systems to experiment with, and we’ve slowly been adding more capabilities as they’re released,” said Gwen.
The Connection enables Culture Biosciences to manage all hardware product information, change orders, BOMs, and sourcing information in Arena—synced directly from Onshape models. Both Onshape and Arena offer cloud-native platforms that enable real-time collaboration anytime, from anywhere.
Onshape’s platform is purpose-built for real-time CAD design collaboration across devices while Arena provides structured release management, approvals, and quality control to ensure product development processes stay on track.
Since adopting Arena and Onshape Connection, Culture Biosciences has achieved tangible results in operational efficiency, information integrity, and cross-functional collaboration.
The company plans to expand its use of Arena in several strategic areas:
Culture Biosciences is transforming the biotech R&D landscape by combining advanced hardware, cloud-native experimentation, and agile product development. With the Arena and Onshape Connection, they’ve not only streamlined internal operations but also set the stage for scaling their external product lines.
By eliminating manual processes, ensuring synchronization across systems, and providing a single source of product truth, Arena has become a foundational platform for the company’s future growth. For companies operating in regulated or fast-paced environments, Culture Biosciences’ story stands as a powerful example of how integrated cloud-native tools can drive both innovation and operational excellence.
—Nick Lester, Mechanical Engineer, Hardware R&D Team, Culture Biosciences
