Sucess Story - Winners in the regeneration game

23 Apr 2014 04:17 PM
Net curtains have helped scientists to see the light with a brand new invention for tissue regeneration.
 
A technique for growing tissues in the laboratory that originally relied on materials such as filter paper - and net curtains from department store John Lewis - may eventually provide a solution for rebuilding a variety of body parts including corneas.
 
‘Researchers found that a combination of filter paper and mesh - originally a net curtain from John Lewis - was the best way to create a 3D environment for cells that resembled native tissue,' said Rosemary Drake, Chief Scientific Officer at TAP Biosystems, a pioneer in the field of tissue regeneration. 
 
The Hertfordshire company is commercialising fundamental research carried out by Professor Robert Brown and Professor Julie Daniels of University College London into how to mimic the biological processes involved in growing tissue.
 
TAP Biosystems has developed a process called Rapid Automated Fabrication of Tissues (RAFT), which among other areas of research is being applied at Moorfields Eye Hospital in an effort to regenerate the surface of damaged corneas, the transparent part of the eye that covers the pupil.
 
A preclinical trial of the process involving stem cells are underway at the hospital and will be completed in 2015. The trial is being supported with £526k after the project won a development therapeutics competition in the Technology Strategy Board's regenerative medicine programme.

The Technology Strategy Board is our best friend

The bulk of the early development of the corneal treatment, which took place between August 2008 and December 2011, was funded by a £1.27m grant awarded to TAP Biosystems and University College London after they won a Technology Strategy Board cell therapy competition. The partners received additional funding from the Technology Strategy Board for two more projects for other aspects of the research.
 
The Technology Strategy Board's support also resulted in a spin-off product: TAP Biosystems subsequently developed a range of kits for researchers and pharmaceutical companies based on RAFT aimed at a vast worldwide market for 3D cell culture products.
 
‘I spotted the potential for turning Professor Brown's work into a tool for researching into cell biology, at a time when no one else seemed very interested in the work,' said Rosemary.

‘With Technology Strategy Board funding to kick start the project, I persuaded our board to invest very significant sums of money in the project.
 
‘The Technology Strategy Board is our best friend. The funding has been transformative, allowing us to take a much more long term view of what is a very high risk development that has been going since August 2008.

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