Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) for precise, low cost schizophrenia modeling
Schizophrenia is a complex neurological disorder. Current therapies are limited to disease management, as a basic understanding of the underlying cellular defects remains unavailable. While the microdeletion 22q11.2 is known to be associated with schizophrenia, a human cellular model has yet to be established. Although animal models have been used to study the function of this genetic region, they do not fully mimic the disease as it presents in humans, forcing researchers to rely on brain recordings with poor resolution. This technology describes a series of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), stem cells that have been derived from adult tissue, from schizophrenic patients bearing the microdeletion. As 22q11.2 is the only microdeletion known to correlate with psychiatric disorders, these cells represent the most precise cellular model of human schizophrenia to date. Once iPSCs lines have been generated, they can be propagated indefinitely, allowing them to be a great tool in schizophrenia drug screening and are more cost efficient than animal models. As such, this technology provides a robust, low cost, and highly accurate method of studying the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
Can establish causative association between microdeletion and schizophreniaUtilizes cells from humans over animal modelsiPSCs cell lines can be propagated indefinitely and shared easilyApplicable to other psychiatric disorders involving 22q11.2 microdeletion Patent information:Tech Ventures Reference: IR CU15262
Basic research tool for 22q11.2 characterizationDrug screening tool for schizophrenia fieldBasic research tool for other 22q11.2-positive psychiatric disorders, such as Autism
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