Development and Optimization of Immune-Evasive Capsules for Cell-based Therapies

Cell-based treatments for chronic metabolic disorders such as diabetes are poised to disrupt conventional treatments based on insulin administration through needles. These treatments involve transplanting cells that can provide the needed hormone or enzyme directly into the patients’ circulation, in principle for years and without human intervention.
However, these transplanted cells need to be protected from immune recognition by the patients’ immune system. This project describes the optimization and testing of capsules that can provide physical immune isolation to such therapeutic transplanted cells, replacing the current requirement for chemical immune suppression.
These capsules can help bring Canadian and global cell-based therapies to the clinic, and potentially offers significant improvements to the quality of life for Canadian, and global, patients.

Faculty Supervisor:

Alison Holloway

Student:

Sam Ros;Felix Gross;Zhen Hu;Leticia Hernandez Galan

Partner:

Allarta Life Science Inc

Discipline:

Biochemistry / Molecular biology

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

McMaster University