Neuron and astrocyte co-culture method for development of molecular ALS therapies

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a debilitating progressive neurological disease with very few medical options, most of which are only palliative. This imbalance in treatment options is due in part to a paucity of model systems that recapitulate the complex progression of ALS, therefore allowing the screening and evaluation of potential therapeutic agents against this disease. This technology is a method for co-culturing stem cell derived motor neurons with astrocytes. Further, this technology is able to model the neuronal death seen in ALS caused by a mutation in the SOD1 enzyme. As such this technology provides a robust platform for the evaluation of molecules with therapeutic potential for treating ALS.

Low cost as stem cells can be propagated and expanded into large numbers for thorough testingApplicable to HTS or other highly parallel processes as fluorescence monitoring of cell viability and number can be readily quantified Operationally straightforward, avoiding many of the difficulties associated with primary neuron culturesPatent Information:Patent Pending (WO/2008/127974)Tech Ventures Reference: IR 2156

Development and discovery of the underlying molecular mechanisms causing ALS and other degenerative motor neuron diseasesDiscovery platform for identifying novel biomarkers of ALS for use in diagnostic testing Platform for the discovery of molecules with therapeutic potential against ALSInitial assessment of the therapeutic index of neuroprotective compounds, as stem cells can be differentiated into non-neuron cell typesTransferable to a wide number of neurological diseases as the expression of mutant proteins in astrocytes or motor neurons can be easily modified

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USA