With the help of the TTO (Natalia Giovannini on the left), a hydrogel developed by the Functionalized Biomaterials Group (piloted by Sandrine Gerber) has been licensed.
Researchers at EPFL have developed a hydrogel that offers unrivaled protection against transplanted cell rejection. The School's Technology Transfer Office has licensed the new product to Cell-Caps, a Geneva-based startup specialized in cell encapsulation for treating diabetes. Transplanted tissue often comes under attack from the body's immune system and struggles to survive in the hostile host environment. This has resulted in a shortage of suitable transplants for patients with dysfunctional cells and organs, prompting researchers to devise alternative strategies. One idea that several teams have been working on in recent years is to coat cells from human donors - and even animals - with a semi-permeable gel that protects them from attack and means patients can receive the tissue without having to take immunosuppressive drugs. The technology, which has been studied extensively in pancreatic islet cell transplantation, appears to have promising applications for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. A gel developed by an EPFL team, led by Sandrine Gerber, has been exclusively licensed to Geneva-based startup Cell-Caps SA. The company, founded by researchers at Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) who specialize in pancreatic islet cell transplantation, works closely with InsuLéman, a diabetes research foundation. Thanks to an enable grant from EPFL's Technology Transfer Office (TTO), the researchers were able to license their technology exclusively to Cell-Caps. Limiting the need for immunosuppressive therapy
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