Disease Focus: Parkinson's Disease
A Phase 1b Safety Study for MRI guided delivery of AAV2-GDNF for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disease that is thought to be the outcome of the gradual breakdown of dopaminergic neurons in the brain, which are a type of cell that produces a chemical in ones’ brain known as dopamine. This decrease in the brain dopamine content can result in symptoms such as uncontrollable shaking of […]
Autologous therapy for Parkinson’s disease: single cell RNAseq for in depth characterization of transplanted cells
Drug Development of Inhibitors of Inflammation Using Human iPSC-Derived Microglia (hiMG)
Research Objective We will screen for modifiers of the response to misfolded αSyn and Aβ, and their cognate antibodies. Development of drugs to combat this inflammation is important in neurodegenerative diseases. Impact Inhibiting the immune response to minimize NLRP3 inflammasome activation may prevent the neurotoxic effect of activated microglia, and attenuate disease progression in neurodegenerative […]
A tool for rapid development of clinical-grade protocols for dopaminergic neuronal differentiation of Parkinson’s Disease patient-derived iPSCs
Research Objective Develop a tool that facilitates rapid, cost effective development of optimized GMP-grade hPSC differentiation into functional DA neurons and apply this device to a cohort of PD patient-derived iPSCs. Impact Creating GMP-grade, functionally consistent phenotypes for DA neurons from each patient will significantly increase the likelihood of stem cell-derived DA neuron-based therapy for […]
CRISPR/dCas9 mutant targeting SNCA promoter for downregulation of alpha-synuclein expression as a novel therapeutic approach for Parkinson’s disease
Research Objective Discovery of a novel therapeutic candidate for Parkinson’s disease which modifies gene expression using human stem cell-derived neurons to halt the neurodegenerative disease process. Impact Stopping the neurodegenerative process of Parkinson’s disease is a critical unmet medical need. Our approach is based on novel gene engineering technology that modifies expression of key target […]
Autologous cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease using iPSC-derived DA neurons
Research Objective Autologous human dopaminergic neurons derived from patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells Impact Parkinson's disease Major Proposed Activities Characterize differentiation from all 10 patient cell lines Characterize functionality of patient neurons matured in vitro Immunogenicity assessment Cryopreservation feasibility testing Investigate dose response in vivo Detect dopamine release in vivo Thousands of Californians suffer from […]
A new phenotypic screening platform that identifies biologically-relevant targets and lead compounds for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Research Objective Demonstrate that our HitFinder™ library can be screened for phenotypic changes in A53T-IPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons and use a secondary handle to identify the targets responsible. Impact This technology combines phenotypic screening and target-ID eliminating the need to bias assays and/or screening libraries permitting application directly in iPSC-derived cells. Major Proposed Activities Prepare screening […]
Development of Autologous Cell Replacement Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease: Path to Personalized Treatment
Translational Candidate autologous iPSC-derived dopaminergic progenitor cells Area of Impact Parkinson's Disease Mechanism of Action Autologous iPSC-derived dopaminergic progenitor cells represent a promising strategy to replace the nigrostriatal cells which are lost in Parkinson's Disease (PD). While approaches using fetal tissue / allogeneic stem cells show great promise, they are not sufficiently personalized to provide […]
A Phase 1b Safety Study for MRI guided delivery of AAV2-GDNF for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Therapeutic Candidate or Device AAV2-GDNF is a gene therapy product encoding Glial cell line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF) Indication Parkinson's disease Therapeutic Mechanism AAV2-GDNF will be delivered into the putamen. GDNF is a growth factor expected to act by stimulating regeneration of the terminals of dopamine producing neurons that are progressively lost in PD. This is […]
Allogeneic iPSC derived Dopaminergic Drug Product for Parkinson’s disease
Therapeutic Candidate or Device Allogeneic iPSC derived dopamine progenitors delivered to the brain of Parkinson's disease patients Indication Idiopathic Parkinson's disease Therapeutic Mechanism The cellular product reconstitutes dopaminergic neuron circuits lost owing to the disease Unmet Medical Need There are currently disease modifying therapies. This approach is intended to be disease modifying. Project Objective To […]