Research Project
8636028
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Primorigen Biosciences (R) Abstract Primorigen Biosciences will use Phase II SBIR funds to advance its novel, 3-dimensional system for robust expansion of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by a) scaling up iPSC production in 3L bioreactors, b) validating the bioreactor-expanded iPSCs for differentiatation into lineages of value for pharmaceutical drug screening, and c) validating large-scale cryopreservation of the iPSCs. Phase I studies successfully demonstrated feasibility of iPSC expansion in the new system, with the added benefits of substantially lowering media and labor requirements versus standard 2-dimensional culture. Phase II studies will validate the system for larger scale applications as described above. The ultimate commercial goals are to enable industrialization of stem cells and their derivatives by addressing the current technical and market need for cost-effective large scale production of pluripotent stem cells, a key barrier to the use stem cells for widespread drug screening and clinical therapeutics. To ensure utility for both applications, Phase II studies will continue the work initiated in Phase I to make the system xeno-free and adapatable for ultimate GMP production. The initial production applications will be targeted to companies requiring large quantities of phenotypically relevant cell types for drug discovery. Longer term, the system's paradigm-changing efficiency and scalability will be adapted to produce clinical-grade therapeutic cells derived from stem-cells.
