Commercialization of Placental Alkaline Phosphatase (PLAP) for Regeneration of Skin Tissue for Many Fields of Use

Our goal with this grant is to push innovation to increase yield and lower production cost for targeted proteins, using molecular farming. Reducing the cost of these proteins, will open new markets that are unattainable today due to the high cost. PLAP's use in regenerative medicine has been stalled due to the high cost. We aim to scale from bench top level production to commercial level production and achieve a lower cost by 100 fold.

Diana Trujillo, PhD
2022-2023

Enhancing Infrastructure for Development and Analysis of Regenerative Cell Therapies

LEAH Labs is an innovative biotech startup headquartered at Mayo Clinic's 'Hatchery Lab' developing regenerative cell therapies, first focused on cancer and autoimmune disease in dogs. Not only is there an unmet need for biotech innovation for our furry family members, but they are also afflicted by the same types of diseases as humans. At LEAH Labs, we aim to develop therapies that can help our pets while also informing human regenerative cell therapy trials.

Wesley Wierson, PhD
2022-2023

Development of a peripheral nerve wrap using regenerative engineering tissue tube

This project aims to develop and implant a preclinical model of a regenerative tissue tube for nerve repair. The TRUE™ Tissue allogeneic biomaterial is completely biological, non-immunogenic and regenerates by the host. Demonstrating these benefits in a preclinical nerve injury model will greatly advance the field of peripheral nerve injury and offer a promising alternative to current treatments that often lack complete and functional nerve repair.

Richard Murphy
2022-2023

Liquid Nitrogen-Free Cryogenic Storage System

1) Build and test a customer demonstration model of the liquid nitrogen-free cryogenic storage system. This system will allow storage and transportation of biological materials down to -196° Celsius without the cross-contamination risks.  The device is intended to have low power consumption, improved ergonomics, and a reduced physical difficulties inherent with liquid nitrogen and other available alternatives.

Ross Dunbar
2022-2023

Regenerative Medicine for the Durable Remission of HIV, Analytical Testing Infrastructure

We are developing a one-time treatment for durable remission of HIV, after which patients will no longer need to take traditional antiretroviral medications. This treatment is a regenerative medicine therapy of autologous HIV-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells that equips a patient's own T cells with the ability to seek out and destroy HIV-producing cells in a "hidden" viral reservoir located in B cell follicles, a hiding spot in the immune system where viral replication can occur unabated.

Maria Athanasiou, PhD
2022-2023

Preclinical Evaluation of Multi-tissue Organoid-Derived Chondrocytes for the Treatment of Focal Cartilage Defects

Our ultimate goal is to bring our chondrocyte product, harvested from human induced pluripotent cell derived multi tissue organoids, into human clinical applications in cartilage injury repair. The goal of the studies in this proposal is to assess our chondrocyte product in a translationally relevant large animal model of cartilage injury.

Ferenc Toth, DVM, PhD

Peroxisome Transfer Enables Bone Marrow Regeneration

The goal of this project is to describe a new field of science: peroxisome transfer. This has never been shown, and we are poised to be the first lab in the world to demonstrate peroxisome transfer occurs and that it supports bone marrow regeneration after injury. Our aims are to demonstrate this process this in vitro and in vivo using our exclusively created ubiquitous peroxisome reporter mouse.

Troy Lund, MD, PhD

Epigenetic Reprogramming to Enhance Bone Regeneration in Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a highly prevalent chronic condition that affects Minnesotans' quality of life while also imparting a significant financial burden. A number of co-morbidities are associated with type 2 diabetes, including increased systemic inflammation, elevated bone fracture risk and diminished bone healing; thus, reducing the body's own ability to heal. Our work suggests that epigenetic reprogramming of innate immune cells enhances bone healing in pre-clinical, non-diabetic models.

Elizabeth Bradley, PhD