From Boston to Portland: QuTEM and OHSU Give West Coast Advanced Therapy Developers a Direct Path from R&D to GMP

Collaboration with OHSU’s MMC in Portland brings faster, local TEM analysis of viral vectors and nanoparticles to West Coast Advanced Therapy developers.

STOCKHOLM, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, November 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — QuTEM AB, a provider of GMP-certified transmission electron microscopy (TEM) services and nanoparticle quality control analysis, today announced a new collaboration with the Multiscale Microscopy Core (MMC) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. The OHSU site becomes QuTEM’s second U.S. satellite laboratory, following the launch of its Boston operations earlier this year, and gives the company an analytical presence on both U.S. coasts.

The West Coast is home to a fast-growing community of cell and gene therapy developers, from Seattle to the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego. With a lab in Portland, these teams can now send R&D samples to a domestic site in their own time zone, rather than shipping across the country or the Atlantic. Shorter transit limits exposure to temperature fluctuations and handling, reduces customs and courier risks, and delivers earlier answers for programs on tight timelines.

The Portland site follows the same model that QuTEM has already put to work in Boston. Clients ship their R&D-stage samples directly to the MMC. Like QuTEM’s Boston site, the MMC operates a Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) laboratory, so it can accept the same range of samples that QuTEM analyzes at its Stockholm headquarters: Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV), lentiviral and other viral vectors, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), and other nanoparticle-based products. At the MMC, OHSU microscopy scientists carry out sample preparation and TEM imaging according to QuTEM’s protocols. The image data is then transferred securely to QuTEM in Stockholm. There, QuTEM’s analysts use Gridsee, the company’s proprietary image analysis software, to quantify Critical Quality Attributes (CQAs) such as particle morphology, size distribution, integrity and aggregation, as well as the proportions of empty, partially filled, full and over filled capsids for AAV. Clients receive an R&D analysis report, or can team up with QuTEM on more extensive R&D studies. With this model in place, QuTEM supports clients from early R&D, through process and formulation development, to technology transfer and GMP release testing at its facilities in Stockholm. Because satellite samples are analyzed with the same type of equipment, protocols and the Gridsee software, results stay comparable as programs move toward GMP.

“Developers of gene therapies and nanomedicines on the West Coast should not have to choose between speed and analytical quality,” said Josefina Nilsson, CEO of QuTEM AB. “Our clients in the region saw how well the satellite model works in Boston and asked us for the same service closer to home. We are delighted to answer that request together with OHSU. Listening to our clients and acting on what they need is how we intend to keep growing.”

The collaboration runs under OHSU’s established core service model, in which QuTEM accesses the MMC’s instruments and expert staff on a fee-for-service basis. This lets QuTEM grow its U.S. capacity quickly and flexibly, while keeping full control over data analysis, quality review and reporting in Stockholm.

The OHSU satellite lab is now open for new U.S. projects. Both U.S. sites offer the same range of R&D analyses that QuTEM runs in Stockholm, and having two domestic sites adds resilience for time-sensitive programs. Developers who want to characterize AAV, LNP, other viral vector or nanoparticle samples through the West Coast lab, or plan their route to GMP release testing, can contact QuTEM at info@qutem.com.

About QuTEM
QuTEM AB is a Stockholm-based provider of GMP-certified TEM services and quality control analysis of nanoparticles. It serves biopharmaceutical companies developing AAV, LNP and other viral vector-based therapies. The QuTEM team builds on almost twenty years of hands-on electron microscopy experience. It combines latest-generation instruments with Gridsee, its in-house image analysis software, and validated methods to deliver objective, reproducible data from early research through GMP release. With satellite laboratories in Boston and Portland, QuTEM supports developers in Europe and across the United States.

About the OHSU Multiscale Microscopy Core
The Multiscale Microscopy Core (MMC) at Oregon Health & Science University provides academic and commercial users with access to advanced electron microscopy platforms, together with project consultation, specimen preparation, imaging and analysis services. The core was established in 2013 and is housed in the OHSU’s Robertson Life Sciences Building in Portland, Oregon. Its instruments include a Glacios cryo-transmission electron microscope, a Talos 120C G2 transmission electron microscope, a Helios UC5 Focused Ion Beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) with cryo capabilities, a Helios G3 FIB-SEM and an Apreo Volume Scope Serial Block face SEM. The MMC is a member of the OHSU University Shared Resource Cores.

Jingyi Zhang
QUTEM AB
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