Stem Cell Research

Wisconsin Research Team Creates Retinal Cells From Skin Cells

A few weeks ago we posted about University of Florida researchers chemically inducing bone marrow stem cells to become retinal cells. Now University of Wisconsin researchers have broadened the Florida result.

The University of Wisconsin retina project began by using embryonic (ES) stem cells, but incorporated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells as they became available. Ultimately, Wisconsin researchers were able to grow multiple types of retinal cells beginning with either ES or iPS cells, each of which provided a highly enriched population of very primitive cells with the potential to become retinal cells.

In normal human development, embryonic stem cells begin to differentiate into more specialized cell types about five days after fertilization. The retina develops from a group of cells that arise during the earliest stages of the developing nervous system. The Wisconsin team took cells from skin, created induced pluripotent stem cells, and then coaxed them into becoming retinal cell types.

Researchers Coax Bone Marrow Stem Cells To Become Vision Cells

On July 26th we posted about some of the companies working on stem cell solutions for eye diseases.  Now, in what appears to be unique research, bone marrow stem cells have been programmed to repair damaged retinas in mice.  A virus carrying a gene was used to gently push the cultured adult stem cells from mice toward becoming retinal cells. However, only after the stem cells were reintroduced into the mice did they completely transform into the desired vision cells, apparently taking environmental cues from the damaged retinas.

After studying the cell-transformation process, University of Florida researchers were able to bypass the gene manipulation step entirely and instead use chemical compounds that mirrored environmental conditions in the body, thus pointing the stem cells toward their ultimate identities as vision cells.

The Eyes Have It: Stem Cell Sector Public Companies vs. Newly Established, Closely-Held, Big Pharma Financed Competitors

Stem cell research is advancing in five arenas:

1. Universities


2. Publicly traded companies


3. Closely held companies with university affiliations


4. Publicly traded companies with University affiliations


5. Closely held or publicly traded stem cell companies with research funding through big pharma partnerships. 

Category five is really small.  So far.  But as research in the stem cell field progresses into scalability and the potential for commercial therapies, researchers will increasingly be in demand by big pharma.  It will be a good fit because researchers will be looking for money.

EyeCyte Inc., founded by Dr. Martin Friedlander of Scrips Research Institute and his former post-doc student Mathew Ritter, now EyeCyte's research and development manager, is our current example of a stem cell start up venture funded by big pharma.

EyeCyte, Inc., is an early stage stem/progenitor cell‐based ophthalmology research and development company based in La Jolla, California. Building on research into the causes of, and potential treatments for, retinal disease by Professor Martin Friedlander, M.D., Ph.D. and his laboratory at Scripps, EyeCyte will use the properties of blood and bone marrow‐derived progenitor cells from patients to pursue the development of treatments for acquired and inherited retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity, retinal vascular occlusive disease, agerelated macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa.

StemCells Inc., International Stem Cells Incorporated, Advanced Cell Technology: Degrees Of Separation In Stem Cell Research On Retinal Solutions

Talk about six degrees of separation, in the retinal field our sector companies are working with more like two. Three of our sector companies are currently working on stem cell solutions for diseases of the retina.  StemCells, Inc. (STEM) is collaborating with the Casey Eye Institute in preclinical studies on retinal degenerative diseases including age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), which holds many patents but has either contributed them to a new joint venture or licensed its technology, is currently concentrating solely on stem cell retinal solutions. The company is, "focused on using proprietary technologies to generate stable cell lines including retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells for the treatment of diseases of the eye, including macular degeneration."

Here's what ACT has to say on its web site about its pre-clinical research:

Stem Cells Shown To Generate New Retinal Cells

Pluripotent stem cells can be converted into the different classes of retinal cells necessary for vision, according to a new study from researchers at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

This points to exciting new possibilities for preventing or reversing the disabling vision loss caused by age‑related macular degeneration, diabetes retinopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, and other diseases that damage the retina, the layer of light‑sensitive nerve cells that line the back of the eye.

“Vision is lost in these diseases because one or more of the seven retinal cell types die,” said the study’s lead author, Michael Ezra Zuber, Ph.D., assistant professor of ophthalmology and adjunct assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at SUNY Upstate Medical University. “Current treatments can slow these diseases’ progression, but they can’t replace lost retinal cells. Pluripotent cells offer a promising starting point from which to generate new retinal cells.”