This biotech company engineers universal donor stem cells using gene editing to create cell therapies that avoid immune rejection. Their platform aims to accelerate the development of allogeneic cell therapies for various diseases by providing readily available, compatible cells. This enables faster and more efficient development of life-saving treatments.
Funding
$60K raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Product
Problem
Allogeneic cell therapies face the challenge of immune rejection, requiring HLA matching or immunosuppression, which can limit accessibility and increase the risk of complications. Current methods for generating compatible cells are often inefficient and time-consuming, hindering the development of widely available cell therapies.
Solution
Universal Cells engineers universal donor stem cells using recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)-mediated gene editing to create off-the-shelf, allogeneic cell therapies that can avoid immune rejection. Their technology modifies human leukocyte antigen (HLA) expression in pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) by eliminating the expression of polymorphic HLA proteins and expressing non-polymorphic HLA molecules. This approach aims to produce cells accepted by patients without HLA matching or immunosuppression. The resulting universal donor cells (UDCs) can be differentiated into various therapeutic cell products, enabling faster and more efficient development of cell therapies for diverse diseases.
Target Audience
The primary target audience includes researchers and pharmaceutical companies developing allogeneic cell therapies, as well as clinicians seeking readily available, compatible cells for transplantation.
Features
- Nuclease-free, rAAV-mediated gene editing for precise modification of chromosomal genes in stem cells
- Generation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) that can differentiate into any cell type
- Elimination of HLA class I and class II proteins to prevent immune recognition
- Expression of HLA-E to inhibit lysis by natural killer (NK) cells
- Introduction of suicide genes, such as thymidine kinase (TK), for enhanced safety and in vivo elimination of transplanted cells
- Clinical-grade gene editing and stem cell production in dedicated facilities
- Proprietary technology for HLA engineering to create universal donor cells (UDCs)
- Genomic analysis to ensure editing precision and absence of unwanted mutations