We produce neurons by direct reprogramming of somatic cells obtained from each patient donor.
Our technology has three advantages:
- The source cells can be remote: we have developed a formulation of cryoprotectants to preserve skin punch biopsies 3mm in diameter in dry ice for long distance shipping. Outpatient biopsies are convenient for donors with reduced mobility. The biopsies can be shipped cryopreserved for neural reprogramming.
- Our reprogramming procedure is direct from somatic cells, i.e. without pluripotent cell intermediates. This removes the risks of teratoma formation in implanted neurons.
- Our procedure does not involve expression vectors or transgenes. In absence of exogenous sequences and without any possibility of insertional mutagenesis, the risk of tumor formation upon reimplantation of autologous neurons is strongly reduced compared to other methods that modify the genome.
An example of neural reprogramming is shown below, starting with skin fibroblasts (left) obtained from a skin punch biopsy, the cells were slowly reprogrammed into neurons (right). Since neurons derive from the somatic cells of each patient, they can be used for personalized, autologous neural implants that do not require immunosuppression.
