TAP
Biosystems, a leading supplier of innovative cell culture systems and
consumables for life science applications, is pleased to announce it has
received further funding from the UK's Technology Strategy Board. This will advance their project, developing a
biomimetic cornea to treat corneal surface disease, into
pre-clinical research and a safety trial in two patients.
TAP will continue
the collaboration with Professor Julie Daniels and her team at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London
(UCL), developing the RAFT 3D tissue production technology
to create high quality and consistent clinical grade tissues.
Professor
Daniels, who began researching the clinical use of adult stem cells for repairing
the human ocular surface over a decade ago, has been collaborating with TAP
since 2008. Her work has already shown that RAFT tissues, seeded with
epithelial stem cells, can create corneal tissue which closely mimics the
cells'
in vivo environment and supports
stem cell growth, offering the potential to improve significantly on current success
rates of ocular surface transplant surgery.
Professor
Daniels stated: "There is a genuine clinical problem with some biomaterials
used to culture and transplant cells: The first generation material used in our
transplant programme had a 40 per cent failure rate because the stem cells
seeded on them do not always grow optimally. The RAFT process creates a natural
collagen scaffold that can be engineered to replicate features of the stem cell
niche and is a more realistic environment to support the stem cell population.
The additional funding we have received from the Technology Strategy Board is a
great vote of confidence in the potential of RAFT to deliver a corneal tissue
equivalent, which we believe will be more effective in treating patients with
blinding corneal surface damage."
Dr
Rosemary Drake, CSO at TAP Biosystems added: "Professor Daniels is one of the
founding scientists in the application of stem cells for repair of the human
ocular surface and we are delighted to have received the funding to continue
developing the RAFT technology
for her group to use in the clinical phase of their research. We look forward
to seeing the
results of the pre-clinical and clinical studies because they could provide the
proof-of-concept that 3D tissues produced by
the RAFT process have the potential to become novel
regenerative therapies, which will enable more effective treatment of a range
of debilitating conditions."
For further information visit
www.tapbiosystems.com
Subscribe to any of our newsletters for the latest on new laboratory products, industry news, case studies and much more!
Request your free copies HERE
Popular this Month
Top 10 most popular articles this month
Today's Picks
Looking for a Supplier?
Search by company or by product
Please note Lab Bulletin does not sell, supply any of the products featured on this website. If you have an enquiry, please use the contact form below the article or company profile and we will send your request to the supplier so that they can contact you directly.
Lab Bulletin is published by newleaf marketing communications ltd.