Tel Aviv University to Implant Lab-Grown Spinal Cord in Human Trial, Derived from Stem Cells

There are several companies developing tech for spinal cord injury, including Nurexone Biologic (which we recently interviewed), which has shown good success in preclinicals. Institut Guttmann, a neurorehabilitation hospital in Spain, is running a trial using intrathecal Wharton’s Jelly + neurorehab, and there are many others in the pipeline.

Here’s a new one. To preface, three years ago, Tel Aviv University researchers used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to generate a spinal cord and implant it into animal models. Here’s their paper published in Advanced Science, which showed good success.

They mentioned: “The human spinal cord implants were then implanted in two different groups of lab models: those who had only recently been paralyzed (the acute model) and those who had been paralyzed for a long time (the chronic model) – equivalent to one year in human terms. Following the implantation, 100% of the lab models with acute paralysis and 80% of those with chronic paralysis regained their ability to walk.”

Fast forward 3 years, they were granted compassionate-use permission for human trials, which will begin in the coming weeks.

Here’s how it works:

Creating Personalized Spinal Cord Implants

The research team developed a personalized approach using patient-derived biomaterials:

• Cell sourcing: Blood cells from each patient are reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have embryonic-like potential (pluripotency).
• Tissue engineering: Fat tissue provides collagen and sugars used to create a hydrogel tailored specifically for each patient.
• Differentiation: The iPSCs are embedded within this custom gel and guided through processes mimicking embryonic development into mature neural tissue.

The end result is an implantable 3D tissue containing networks of motor neurons capable of transmitting electric signals across damaged areas. 

They’ll be using Matricelf’s iPSC technology, which was spun out from Tel Aviv University. 

Again, what a time to be alive, wish them luck. 

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