Human Neural Cells Derived from Stem Cells

Applied Genetics News, August, 2002

BresaGen, Ltd. (P.O. Box 259, Rundle Mall, Adelaide, South Australia 5000; Tel: +61 8 8234 2660, Fax: + 61 8 8234 6268; Website: www.bresagen.com.au) has successfully derived neural cell-types from human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines using its proprietary differentiation technology according to BresaGen senior vice president and medical director, Chris Juttner, who revealed the accomplishment at the Australian Stem Cell Summit in Melbourne.

BresaGen aims to develop a commercial product for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other neurologically based conditions. These new neural precursor cells are currently being evaluated in rat models to establish their survival, safety, and functionality.

"Establishing that these neural cells can function in animal models of disease and are safe to implant brings us significantly closer to developing commercially viable cell therapy treatments for conditions such as Parkinson's disease, stroke, and spinal cord injury," says Juttner.

The technology used by the BresaGen research team is based on a proprietary growth medium, referred to as MED II, extracted from the culture of a particular human liver cell line. The company has shown this medium to have very strong and reproducible neural inducing effects, initially on mouse ES cells, more recently on primate ES cells and now on human ES cells.