Stem Pharm Wins $1.7M NIH SBIR Grant for Better Models of the Brain. Stem Pharm has been awarded a $1.7 million SBIR grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to optimize its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived model of the central nervous system for drug discovery and toxicology applications. Stem Pharm’s model fills a commercial need to accurately reflect the complexity of cell types and important cell-to-cell interactions in the developing brain. It is the most comprehensive commercially available neural model and is particularly differentiated by the ability to study neuroinflammation, important for toxicology studies and implicated in devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Stem Pharm’s neural model is expected to add tremendous value in neural toxicology screening and may help reduce the reliance on animal testing for the biopharmaceutical and industrial chemical industries.
Stem Pharm has been awarded a Phase II NIH SBIR grant (R44NS102088; PI: Dr. Lebakken) through the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke (NINDS) entitled: Synthetic hydrogels for biomanufacturing of iPSC-derived neural cells for precision medicine. This effort will use Stem Pharm’s hydrogel coatings for efficient differentiation and maturation of iPSC-derived neurons that can be used for modeling neurodevelopmental disorders and enabling new precision therapies..
Stem Pharm, Inc. announced its selection for the 10th funding cycle of the highly competitive Illumina Accelerator. Illumina Accelerator provides extensive mentorship and access to sequencing systems, reagents, and lab space in the San Francisco Bay Area over a six-month period. This milestone is a major step for Stem Pharm on its mission to leverage its biomaterials and cell biology expertise in commercial applications of stem cell-derived human tissues and therapies. Stem Pharm plans to use next-generation sequencing resources at Illumina to validate the physiologic relevance and predictive capabilities of Stem Pharm’s cell and tissue models. See more at: https://www.illumina.com/company/news-center/feature-articles/illumina-accelerator-turns-five-and-backs-five-new-startups.html
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