JHS and Altoura Selected for BioTools Innovator VANGUARD Level Up-XR Program
Altoura–JHS Partnership Awarded Approximately $300,000 to Evaluate Extended Reality Training for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Technicians
Jubilant HollisterStier(JHS) and Altoura will be of only three company-CDMO pairs participating in the BioTools Innovator VANGUARD Level Up-XR Program. The partnership has been awarded approximately $300,000 in non-dilutive funding to develop, implement, and evaluate an extended reality (XR) training pilot over the next 12 months.
The Level Up-XR Program brings together contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) and XR technology companies to evaluate how immersive training technologies can enhance onboarding for entry-level biopharmaceutical manufacturing technicians. Through this pilot, JHS and Altoura will collaborate to assess the effectiveness of XR-based training within a real-world GMP manufacturing environment and generate evidence that may help inform future workforce training practices across the industry.
JHS and Altoura will conduct a study that uses immersive virtual reality and a digital twin of Spokane’s Line 4 isolator filling line to enhance aseptic manufacturing training. The project is designed to evaluate whether XR-based learning can accelerate workforce readiness, improve training effectiveness, reduce human-error-related deviations, and strengthen manufacturing preparedness for future biopharmaceutical production needs.
The Level Up-XR Program is part of BioTools Innovator VANGUARD, which supports innovative technologies that strengthen the United States’ readiness for public health emergencies. Over the course of the pilot, participating teams will develop, execute, and evaluate their XR training programs while contributing data that may help establish future best practices for biopharmaceutical manufacturing technician training.
