Cellular Dynamics is the world’s largest producer of fully functional human cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. We have multiple cell types in development and welcome inquiries about in vitro assay applications and collaborative opportunities with the following cell types:
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) is developing iCell™ Hepatocytes, human hepatocytes derived from iPS cells. These products will provide, for the first time, access to commercial quantities of high quality, high purity human liver cells for pre-clinical drug discovery, hepatotoxicity testing, and disease research.
Liver toxicity and alterations of hepatic physiology are the most frequently occurring reasons for preclinical failure during drug development. In addition, drug-induced liver injury is the most common reason for market withdrawal of approved drugs. Liver diseases associated with drug toxicity can be attributed, in large part, to the lack of biologically relevant and predictive model systems. Current hepatocyte model systems include primary human hepatocytes harvested from cadavers, immortalized cell lines, and animal models. Each of these presents limitations in functionality, reproducibility, and/or availability. iCell Hepatocytes will overcome these limitations and provide a reliable source of well-characterized, highly reproducible, and readily available human hepatocytes for pre-clinical drug development and safety testing.
Currently in development, iCell Hepatocytes will be highly purified, terminally differentiated human hepatocytes derived from iPS cells using CDI’s proprietary differentiation and purification protocols. The cells will exhibit characteristic mature hepatocyte morphology, gene and protein expression (e.g. albumin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, ASGR1, P450 enzymes, transporters) and intrinsic metabolism functions (e.g. glycogen and lipid storage). iCell Hepatocytes will be well-characterized for Phase I and II metabolism, including P450, UDP glucuronosyltransferase (UGT), sulfotransferase (ST) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity, as well as drug transport function.
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) is developing iCell™ Neurons, human iPS cell-derived neurons enabling powerful new strategies for drug discovery, neurotoxicity testing, and disease research.
Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders affect thousands of people worldwide and represent the second largest therapeutic area in terms of research and development spending. The complexity of the human brain is difficult to model, and simplified aspects of its function are modeled using primary cells harvested from cadavers, embryonic stem cell-derived neural progenitor cells, immortalized cell lines, and animal models. However, each of these models presents significant limitations in functionality, reproducibility, and/or availability. The notoriously high failure rate of CNS drugs in development as well as drug-induced neurotoxicity observed in late-stage clinical trials and post-market introduction are consequential by products of these inferior models. CDI is working to eliminate these critical limitations of the existing models through the development of iCell™ Neurons.
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Figure 1: Stained iCell Neurons iCell Neurons, stained for the neuronal marker β-III tubulin (green), show extensive neurite outgrowth. Hoechst (blue), 20x. |
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Figure 2: Neurotransmitter Release of iCell Neurons iCell Neurons exhibit vGLUT (green) and vGAT (red), which are responsible for the uptake and storage of glutamate and GABA neurotransmitters by synaptic vesicles. Hoechst (blue), 40x. |
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) is developing iCell™ Endothelial Cells, human iPS cell-derived endothelial cells enabling powerful new strategies for vascular targeted drug discovery and predictive disease modeling.
Endothelial cells play a key role in a diverse range of physiological, immunological and pathological processes from working as a selective barrier between the blood and the surrounding body tissues to inflammation to the regulation of angiogenesis. They are metabolically very active, producing physiologically active biochemical substances which play a significant role in health and disease.
Existing endothelial cell model systems include primary human and animal endothelial cells, as well as in vivo small animal models. Each of these presents significant limitations in functionality, reproducibility and/or availability. The continued challenge to develop effective treatments for vascular diseases (e.g. peripheral arterial disease, hypertension, cancer), as well as the high failure rate of neurological drugs due to inadequate delivery across the blood brain barrier, reflect the lack of good endothelial cell model systems. CDI is working to eliminate these major problems with the existing model systems through the development of iCell Endothelial Cells.
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Figure 1: iCell Endothelial Cells Tube Formation Tubular formation of iCell Endothelial Cells in (A) Matrigel and (B) the binding of Ulex (UEA-I) to the surface glycoproteins using a ULEX-FITC conjugate (green). |
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Figure 2: Stained iCell Endothelial Cells Immunohistochemical staining of iCell Endothelial Cells expressing the ZO1-488 protein (green) located at the cellular junctions. Hoechst (blue). |
Cellular Dynamics is actively engaged in developing multipotent hematopoietic progenitor cells. The capacity to generate and expand highly purified human hematopoietic progenitor cells from iPSCs ex vivo and to control their differentiation into specific sub cell types benefits multiple areas of cellular therapy, including cancer immunotherapy, induced transplant tolerance, and treatment for autoimmune diseases.
Thus far our hematopoietic research program has generated various blood cell types, including:
| Macrophages |  |
| Erythroid Cells |  |
| Mast Cells |  |
| Megakaryocytes |  |
| Neutrophils |  |
| Dendritic Cells |  |
We are actively seeking collaborative partnerships to develop this cell type and assays, and we welcome inquiries.
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