StemCell Technologies announced that it has signed an exclusive license agreement with Brigham and Women’s Hospital to commercialize technologies for human pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids.
“StemCell is thrilled to commercialize such an exciting and vital technology,” said Allen Eaves, StemCell’s president and CEO. “This partnerships will enable us to provide a robust 3D culture to facilitate kidney research and the development of regenerative medicine in the field.”
The technology was developed by Dr. Benjamin Freedman and Joseph Bonventre and is designed to enable the growth of organoids that recapitulate key characteristics of renal development and physiology in vitro. The organoids are able to provide a reproducible and versatile framework for modeling renal physiology, injury and disease at different development stages.
“Organoids are powerful research tools, but currently require specialized knowledge and skills to implement,” Dr. Freedman, an assistant professor of medicine and nephrology at the University of Washington Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, said in a press release. “Establishing a standardized kit for kidney organoid differentiation will make it much easier for many laboratories to adopt this exciting new technology. This will accelerate the pace of organoid research and enable it to reach its full potential for biomedicine. As an inventor, I am especially pleased that this standardization effort is being led by StemCell, which is a world-renowned leader in providing high-quality, cutting-edge products to the stem cell research community.”