Development of Laminin Based Stem Cell Therapy for Retinal Diseases
PATENT STATUS
This technology portfolio includes 2 patent applications:
- Photoreceptor progenitors PCT application filed on 17th October 2017
- RPE patent application filed on 18th July 2018
OVERVIEW OF TECHNOLOGY ON OFFER
Laminin based differentiation to produce clinically safe and functional (i) Photoreceptors progenitors and (ii) RPE for treatment of retinal diseases.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Aged Macular Degeneration (AMD) and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) are the leading causes of blindness, affecting over 10 million people worldwide. These diseases result from loss of photoreceptors and the underlying retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE), both of which are required to support the visual system in humans. Human retina lacks the ability to regenerate when the cells are lost to disease or injury. Studies have shown that RPE alone is insufficient as the treated patients demonstrated no vision restoration or visual acuity. Researchers believe that presence of both RPE and photoreceptor progenitors is necessary to restore vision function. Professor Karl Tryggvason’s lab at Duke-NUS Medical School has demonstrated successful engraftment of human-derived RPE in rodents and human-derived photoreceptor progenitors into rabbits. The goal is to transplant a mixture of these 2 cell types for successful restoration and stopping progression of vision loss.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
Treatment of eye disease.
KEY BENEFIT
These methods are xeno-free, chemically defined and scalable in comparison to existing embryonic bodies methods.
PUBLICATIONS
Pending
INVENTOR BIO
Karl Tryggvason
CONTACT
Please email us for further enquiries: cted@duke-nus.edu.sg