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Grant brings former group leader one step closer to commercializing lineage restriction technique

Less than a year after concluding his position as group leader at DANDRITE, Mark Denham has been awarded the Lundbeck Foundation’s Frontier Grant. This funding allows Mark to transition his nine years of stem cell research from the laboratory into a biotechnological investment prospect within the next 18 months.

Mark Denham hopes the grant will bring the  UNIPOTENT project closer to a biotech investment. Photo: Rikke Lindhard, DANDRITE
Mark Denham hopes the grant will bring the UNIPOTENT project closer to a biotech investment. Photo: Rikke Lindhard, DANDRITE

“With this Frontier Grant, we aim to make the project attractive to biotech investors. That’s the strength of this grant; we can advance the technology to a stage where we can secure significant investment to take the next step, which typical research grants don’t offer.”

For the past nine years, Mark Denham and his laboratory have been refining and optimizing the development of pluripotent stem cells into pure, dopamine-producing cells, which have proven highly effective in treating Parkinson’s disease. What sets Mark’s method apart from others is the quantity and quality of the cells.

“There’s an inherent inconsistency in the cell products currently being produced and tested, with labs conducting transplantations containing only 10-15% dopaminergic neurons in the brain. We have been able to improve that by more than two-fold.”

With the Lundbeck Foundation Frontier Grant, the team can now apply their technology to stem cells produced under strictly regulated manufacturing conditions, known as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).

The scientists will test four different GMP cell lines for suitability and then genetically modify them to knock out four unwanted genes. Once edited, the cells will be differentiated into the neurons of interest and transplanted into the brains of rats with Parkinson’s to assess their efficacy—potentially bringing us closer to a treatment for this disease.

“Securing investor support requires demonstrating a clear path to the clinic, and that’s what we’ve been developing over the past 12 months. This Frontier Grant will give us the opportunity to take the first step on that path.”

The project, named UNIPOTENT, is supported by a strong innovation culture at the Department of Biomedicine, AU - which has been very successful in the past in translating early research into spinouts. Mark and his team have direct support from Senior Innovation Consultant Jane Palsgaard and Innovation Professor and serial entrepreneur Claus Olesen at the department. 

About the Frontier Grant

  • The grant is at DKK 5 million distributed over a period of 18 months
  • The recipients of Frontier Grants will receive mentoring, including portfolio executives and other experts.
  • The process will be initiated by invitation from LF to present the idea to the FG panel (composed of members from the LF covering the basic research (Grants & Prizes) as well as early-stage biotech aspects (Lundbeckfonden BioCapital)).
  • FG panel will select projects to enter an up to 3-month project description process.
  • The outcome of this initial process will be an application describing the 18-months research and talent development plan. There will be funding available during the project description process to obtain project critical data, e.g., regarding intellectual property rights and competitive intelligence.
  • Throughout the grant period there will be regular follow-ups with dedicated LF member(s), quarterly progress report meetings with FG panel, and annual reporting to the LF.
  • At each of the above steps external experts may be consulted on a case-by-case basis.

 

(This article is based on the news release from the Lundbeck Foundation written by Helen Frost)