Nottingham uni spin-out secures UKRI £1 million for gene therapy tech
6 Sep 2023
University of Nottingham spin-outTherageniX and collaborator the University of Nottingham, have been awarded a £995,000 grant from Innovate UK.
The funding will support the development of the Company’s gene therapy in a powder, a non-viral gene delivery system to improve tissue regeneration following surgery.
TherageniX will focus on improving the outcomes for patients undergoing bone grafting procedures. Its proprietary technology allows rapid transfection of patients’ cells with genes of interest with transfected cells that are then implanted at the surgical site, enabling the body to produce the relevant proteins or factors for tissue regeneration.
The grant aligns with Innovate UK’s promotion of innovative technologies for intracellular drug delivery as part of its Transforming Medicines Manufacturing programme. It will allow the company to focus on developing its non-viral gene delivery system, transforming its liquid formulation into an enhanced dry powder gene therapy.
The company described transplantation of autologous bone – that derived from the recipient – as the ‘gold standard’ of repair strategy. However, implants can fail through poor integration or infection and the novel gene therapy tech aims to harness the body’s cellular machinery to boost regeneration.
TherageniX will combine autologous bone marrow cells from the patient with its platform technology to drive the production of genes, helping to improve the regenerative capacity of skin, bone, muscle, and cartilage following surgery.
Associate Professor of the School of Pharmacy and NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre at University of Nottingham Dr James Dixon developed the TherageniX platform. He commented:
“Adapting technology for a rapid application directly to grafted tissue within the operating theatre has been a vision for our gene delivery platform for several years. We have the opportunity here to bring regenerative medicine and gene therapy forward with innovative applications and apply it in ways we could not have envisaged only a few years ago, even to emergency medicine.
“Deployment via a dry powder will allow us to overcome some of the bottlenecks for its impact. We hope that our system will generate a platform of transformative, and economically viable approaches to clinical problems that remain poorly addressed in modern medicine.”
Pic: Nottingham university Associate Professor Dr James Dixon and CEO of TherageniX Dr Anandkumar Nandakumar
