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Neuroscientists use living organisms to simulate, or model, biological processes in the lab. These models allow them to gain insights into the underlying causes of neurological disease. These insights, in turn, inform both clinical studies and drug development. Sometimes animal models are used, but early research often begins by looking at cells grown outside a living organism in a test tube or dish. This method is known as research in vitro鈥擫atin for 鈥渋n glass.鈥�

To study neurons in vitro, the plastic or glass surfaces on which cells are cultivated must be coated with a chemical base layer to help them stick to the surface and grow. However even with coated surfaces, neurons are hard to maintain long term because the cells degrade the coating over time. This degradation causes the cells to detach from the surface, clump together and eventually die.

With existing surface coatings, many neurons are only viable for two weeks or less, presenting major problems for neuroscientists who need to see how aging neurons function to study neurodegenerative disease.

In 2020, researchers in Tim Kennedy鈥檚 lab at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) were evaluating new types of chemical coatings for electrodes implanted into the brain; Jean-Pierre Cl茅ment and Laila Al Awan were working to investigate how nerve cells respond to a chemical called 鈥渄endritic polyglycerol amine鈥�, or dPGA鈥攁 complex molecule that isn鈥檛 easily broken down like existing surface coatings.

Because the neurons reacted positively to the new coating, they tried growing them on dPGA-coated culture plates and discovered that dPGA could extend the life of cells from the typical two weeks to more than three months. In addition, the neuroscientists found that dPGA is compatible with living tissue, has a long shelf life and is easy to use because it doesn鈥檛 require researchers to substantially change the way they work.

They saw such positive results that other researchers started coming to the lab to get dPGA for their own experiments. Hearing opportunity knock, the team approached McGill鈥檚 Innovation and Partnerships office. 鈥淓ntrepreneurship was a completely new area of expertise for us鈥�, explains Jean-Pierre.

They filed a patent on the technology and a market research study indicated that they could potentially capture a significant portion of the market. From there, they realized they needed a roadmap for how to start a company. They quickly learned that incorporation and filing a patent were the easy parts of the process.

鈥淣euroSphere really was the first step to learn the ropes of entrepreneurship through their Neuro Innovation program and help us build a 鈥榬oadmap鈥� of how to take the invention we made in the lab and turn it into a commercial product鈥�, says Jean-Pierre.

After participating in the NeuroSphere/Dobson Centre Neuro Innovation Lean Startup program, the team was confident they could turn their project into a truly profitable venture. The program included workshops with intellectual-property experts, marketing and business consultants and entrepreneurs, giving the researchers an opportunity to learn firsthand from successful start-ups.

NeuroSphere also awarded them funding through its Ignite grant competition, allowing them to invest in validation and proof-of-principle projects to expand the list of cell types shown to thrive on dPGA-coated surfaces and fine tune protocols and key technological features. They then applied to the McGill Innovation Fund (MIF) and were awarded additional funding that helped them create and launch their company, DendroTEK Biosciences.

Support from the McGill innovation ecosystem has helped the company scale up production and face down the 鈥渧alley of death鈥� phase of the start-up lifecycle鈥攖he period after a company launches a product but before it sees any revenue. Now the group is poised to bring a product to market that can be readily adopted by scientists and industry users alike. The DendroTEK Biosciences team is currently distributing dPGA to interested researchers and businesses and aims to make their online sales platform available soon.

鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 have been able to make this possible without the funding we received from NeuroSphere, the McGill Innovation Fund and the business connections we were able to make in the process鈥�, shares Jean-Pierre.

The group anticipates their product will draw a great deal of interest from the scientific community studying neurodegenerative diseases, putting the company in an ideal position to attract industry partners for licensing and commercialization.

Check out MIF's , and learn more about how NeuroSphere can help you commercialize your neuroscience innovation by checking out the Neuro Innovation Lean Startup program and Neuro Commercialization Grants.

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Reference

Cl茅ment, J-P et al. (2022). Dendritic Polyglycerol Amine: An Enhanced Substrate to Support Long-Term Neural Cell Culture. ASN Neuro. 2022;14.