The Lethbridge iGEM team has a history of developing novel targeted delivery methods. In 2014, the Lethbridge team began development of an innovative cell therapy platform designed to non-invasively deliver a therapeutic genetic construct to neural scars to promote functional recovery from stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative disease (for more information, see the 2014 Lethbridge Wiki). Since the 2014 season, two members of the current 2018 Lethbridge team, Aubrey and Zak, have been committed to patenting and commercializing this technology under the start-up, Nomadogen Biotechnologies Inc., which was incorporated in February of 2015.

Nomadogen’s foundational technology, a combination genetic and cellular therapy dubbed “Nomadocytes”, is a patented platform that utilizes patient-derived cells to non-invasively deliver therapeutic signals to brain cells specifically affected by stroke, traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. These signals reprogram neural scar tissue that prevents natural regeneration and rehabilitation into functional neurons, which are predicted to restore lost functionality and facilitate recovery.

Specifically, Nomadocytes are a genetically modified type of microglia. Microglia, the mobile immune cells of the brain, have three characteristics that make them excellent candidates for delivery of therapies targeting neural injuries and scar tissue: (1) they have been shown to migrate across the blood-brain barrier and travel specifically to sites of neuron death when injected intravenously; (2) they produce nanoparticles called exosomes, which have been previously demonstrated to have significant potential in trafficking brain disease therapies; and (3) microglia can be derived from patient bone marrow cells. The therapeutic process itself involves the introduction of a novel exosomal protein to microglia that enhances both the targeting of therapeutic DNA to exosomes (a process that would also have widespread scientific applications) and the uptake of these exosomes by specific cells in the central nervous system. The therapeutic DNA, a cellular reprogramming gene called NeuroD1, has been previously shown to reprogram specific scar tissue cells into neurons, which are predicted to integrate into existing neural networks, restore lost functionality, and facilitate recovery.

Nomadocytes are currently in preclinical trials.