NeurXstem heads out for funding

Ohio State University has spun out NeurXstem, a biotechnology company that hopes to commercialise research which has successfully created a human brain in the laboratory.
The brain, engineered from adult human skin cells and matured to that of a five-week old foetus, has applications for a range of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and autism by providing an ethical way for pre-clinical research of drugs.
The research was conducted by Rene Anand, professor of biological chemistry, pharmacology and neuroscience, and Susan McKay, research associate in biological chemistry and pharmacology, over the course of four years.
The work is based on reserach by 2012 Nobel Prize winner Sinya Yamanaka, who was the first to figure out how to convert adult cells into stem cells, which enables researchers to turn them into any other cell.
Anand and McKay serve as co-founders of NeurXstem, which has now applied for US federal funding through the Small Business Technology Transfer programme in order to further develop the technology.
Initial research funding had been provided by the university’s Wexner Medical Center Research Fund and the Marci and Bill Ingram Research Fund for Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Anand said: “It not only looks like the developing brain, its diverse cell types express nearly all genes like a brain. We have struggled for a long time trying to solve complex brain disease problems that cause tremendous pain and suffering.
“The power of this brain model bodes very well for human health because it gives us better and more relevant options to test and develop therapeutics other than rodents.”