Vancouver-based Aspect Biosystems has received significant federal support for a $280-million project to improve its 3D-printed human tissue treatment.
“We are taking a major step toward building a generational company anchored in Canada and delivering life-changing therapies to patients around the world.”
The company announced the project, supported by $79 million from the federal Strategic Response Fund (SRF), on Thursday morning in Vancouver. Aspect said in a news release that the project will “significantly enhance” its clinical development capabilities and strengthen its biomanufacturing platform for advanced cellular medicines. An Aspect spokesperson told BetaKit over email that the company will put up the remaining $201 million committed to the project.
Founded in 2013, Aspect is a spinout from the University of British Columbia that 3D bioprints the human cells and tissues that make up organs. Its tissue implants are made out of a combination of living cells, derived from stem cells, and biomaterials such as hydrogel polymers. These polymers attract water, giving them a soft and pliable quality similar to human tissue. These bioprinted tissues could theoretically repair unhealthy organs, like the pancreas of a Type 1 diabetes patient, while avoiding the painful side effects of alternatives like organ transplants.
In a statement this Thursday, Aspect CEO Tamer Mohamed called the latest federal investment “a powerful vote of confidence” that helps the company’s momentum as it moves towards patient impact.
“We are taking a major step toward building a generational company anchored in Canada and delivering life-changing therapies to patients around the world,” Mohamed said.
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This isn’t the first time Aspect has received significant government investment. In July 2024, Aspect secured $49 million through the federal Strategic Innovation Fund and nearly $24 million from British Columbia to establish its biomanufacturing facility. In January 2025, Aspect raised $115-million USD ($165 million CAD) in a Series B round led by American biotech investor Dimension.
Last year, Mohamed told BetaKit that Aspect was a pre-clinical stage company that hopes to develop into a clinical-stage company over the next few years.
An Aspect spokesperson told BetaKit in an email on Thursday that the new investment will allow the company to “significantly enhance” its clinical development capabilities, as well as scale its biomanufacturing capabilities to advance programs through clinical development.
Aspect has been working in partnership with Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical giant known for diabetes and obesity drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, on its tissue therapy since April 2023. The partnership evolved this past January, with Aspect integrating some of Novo Nordisk’s manufacturing, research, and development capabilities and expertise from the United States and Denmark into its Canadian operation, while Novo Nordisk gets “defined rights to expand its role at a later stage.”
Feature image courtesy Aspect Biosystems.