Rockville, MD (November 1, 2018) – Propagenix Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company focused on developing proprietary cellular technologies for regenerative medicine, has published a peer-reviewed article and been granted several US patents on its core technology for bioproduction of human epithelial stem cells, known as EpiX™ technology.
In an October 16, 2018 paper in Cell Reports (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.09.072) entitled “Long-term in vitro expansion of epithelial stem cells enabled by pharmacological inhibition of PAK1-ROCK-Myosin II and TGF-β signaling”, Propagenix scientists describe compositions, methods, and mechanism to achieve trillion-fold or more expansion of human epithelial stem cells that are resident in many types of epithelial tissues including skin, airway, cornea, gastrointestinal tract and other barrier-type tissues. A central feature of this discovery is the absence for the need to use genetic elements, feeder cells or animal serum to achieve this level of cell expansion. This study also demonstrates preservation of genomic integrity and normal differentiative capacity of propagated epithelial stem cells using the EpiX technology.
“The unprecedented ex vivo expansion enabled by the EpiX technology unleashes the unique potential of tissue-resident epithelial stem cells for regenerative cell therapy and personalized medicine applications”, stated Chengkang Zhang, Ph.D., the lead author and inventor of the EpiX platform. Collaborators at the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO also contributed to the study.
Propagenix’s EpiX technology has also been the subject of three patents recently issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. US patents #9,790471 and #9,963,680 describe the basic characteristics of the EpiX technology, while US Patent #10,066,201 describes a chemically-defined, animal origin-free form of EpiX technology. The company has also received a Notice of Issuance from the USPTO for a fourth patent on EpiX technology (US Patent #10,119,121, to be issued on November 6, 2018).
Using its epithelial stem cell bioproduction and differentiation technology platform, Propagenix has active partnerships with multiple biopharma and consumer product companies to deliver cellular solutions for discovery research, xenobiotic toxicology, personalized diagnostics, and therapeutics. “Research and commercial agreements that provide enabling technology to our partner firms are at the heart of our company enterprise”, stated Brian A. Pollok, Ph.D., Propagenix Co-Founder and CEO.
About Propagenix
Founded in 2014, Propagenix Inc. (www.propagenix.com) is a platform biotechnology company that has developed and industrialized unique technologies for the unprecedented expansion and differentiation of lineage-committed epithelial progenitor cells. Propagenix’ Conditional Reprogramming technology was exclusively licensed from Georgetown University, and has been the subject of over 40 peer-reviewed publications and four issued US patents and one Japanese patent to date. Propagenix’ proprietary EpiX technology is a feeder cell-free, serum-free and animal origin-free set of media formulations and methods designed to address the cost and regulatory challenges facing the scale-up manufacturing of primary human epithelial stem cells. The company also has two internal cell therapy discovery programs using its EpiX
technology.