Contact: Al Gray, agray@brainxell.com, 716-308-6693
Leaders of the University of Wisconsin-Madison lab that first transformed human stem cells into brain cells have started a company that produces and sells specialized neurons to drug researchers.
BrainXell develops neurons from stem cells in its Madison lab, then freezes them for shipment. Once thawed in the customer’s lab, the cells undergo a final step of specialization and become neurons like those found in the spinal cord or brain.
BrainXell is based on technology developed in the lab of co-founder Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the Waisman Center on the UW-Madison campus.
The company generates neural progenitor cells and freezes them so customers can start to work with the neurons within a week, says a second co-founder, Zhong-Wei Du, who began working with neural stem cells in Zhang’s lab about 14 years ago. “They don’t have to wait two or three months as they would previously. Using neurons that are exceptionally pure, our customers can test thousands or millions of compounds as potential drugs.”
Zhang started making headlines in 2001 when he became the first scientist to turn human embryonic stem cells into neurons. Human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to specialize into any cell type, were first cultured by James Thomson, a researcher in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UW-Madison, in 1998.
In 2009, Zhang converted induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into neural stem cells, and then further specialized them into specific neural types. iPS cells are produced from adult tissue, not embryos.
BrainXell has licensed some of Zhang’s patents, related to controlling stem cell development to produce different nerve cells, from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
The extremely delicate development procedure uses various combinations of proteins, other chemicals and coatings that cause a stem cell to mature from a featureless cell into a highly specialized nerve cell. “You have to know how to drive the cells along certain paths by changing many factors, their concentrations and their timing,” says Du. “Many combinations are possible. Some work well, but most don’t.”
BrainXell, which has five employees, began operating in July 2015 and made its first sale one year later.
The company has four types of cells on the market. One makes GABA, a chemical that slows neuronal activity. Another makes glutamate, which excites neurons. A third variety makes neurons that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine; a deterioration in these cells causes the movement disorder Parkinson’s disease. The fourth type, motor neurons, connect with muscles to control movement.
READ THE FULL STORY: http://news.wisc.edu/brain-
