Bell Biosystems, Inc. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase II: NIBIB

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Project Summary Abstract In order to harness the potential of cell therapies more needs to be understood about cells post transplantation Our goal is to experimentally validate magnetoendosymbionts MEs as a living MRI contrast agent to provide this insight into stem cell engraftment and viability in cardiac and neural injury model by demonstrating live cell specificity LCS in vivo Bioluminescence and commercial MRI contrast agents will be used as controls for validation and to demonstrate competitive advantages Reporter gene approaches have LCS but suffer from other complications such as need for genetic engineering that complicates regulatory developments Existing MRI contrast agents provide full anatomic access but lack LCS due to uptake by macrophages and nonspecific signal Our preliminary results suggest that MEs can be used to successfully label cardiomyoctyes iCMs and human neural progenitor cells hNPCs without perturbing cell function ME labeled iCMs were successfully engrafted and visualized for weeks in vivo the overall goal of Phase Moreover preliminary results suggest MEs provide LCS whereas the passive MRI agent did not In Phase we propose to extend from this positive progress and fully demonstrate the value of ME based cell tracking in a second model hNPCs and firmly experimentally define the LCS competitive advantage in both models Development of imaging reagents that can effectively and specifically label cells in vivo with minimal toxicity addresses critical barrier for the cell therapies Such a tool will lower the risk of capital investments forRandamp D and clinical trials by providing the information on bio distribution and viability needed to optimize cell therapies PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Project Narrative Cell therapies are heralding a new era a medicine and have the potential to cure many devastating diseases The number of clinical trials for cell therapies is rapidly increasing but many questions about the safety and efficacy of such treatments remain There is an urgent need for tools that can address these concerns by providing insight into cell function in the body Bell Biosystems Inc is developing a non invasiv and efficient technology for monitoring transplanted cells in the body using MRI Our technology can accelerate the development of cell therapies for individuals suffering from diseases such as cancer neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular disease