Ray Therapeutics Inc. has been awarded a $4 million grant by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to help advance development of the company’s optogenetics technology platform and support progression of RTX-021 for the treatment of geographic atrophy, the advanced form of age-related macular degeneration.
Ray Therapeutics Inc.’s upsized and oversubscribed $100 million series A financing will support the firm’s ongoing efforts with optogenetics, an approach that deploys adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy to deliver a light-sensitive, highly bioengineered protein found in nature to retinal cells.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) was linked to impaired neural connectivity caused by astrocyte dysfunction, according to a study from the Southern Medical University in Guangzhou in collaboration with the University of Hong Kong.
Human brain organoids transplanted into rats could be used as an in vivo model for the study of neuropsychiatric diseases. Researchers at Stanford University managed to mature human organoid neurons in the somatosensory cortex of the animal's brain and incorporate them into its neural circuitry.The integration improved the morphological and physiological properties of the transplanted neurons. Compared to those of organoids in a Petri dish, human cells preserved their own identity, and they modified the rat's learned behavior through stimulation and reward experiments.
Human brain organoids transplanted into rats could be used as an in vivo model for the study of neuropsychiatric diseases. Researchers at Stanford University managed to mature human organoid neurons in the somatosensory cortex of the animal's brain and incorporate them into its neural circuitry.The integration improved the morphological and physiological properties of the transplanted neurons. Compared to those of organoids in a Petri dish, human cells preserved their own identity, and they modified the rat's learned behavior through stimulation and reward experiments.
Less than a year after Novartis AG's acquisition of optogenetics specialist Vedere Bio Inc., its successor Vedere Bio II Inc. is launching with $77 million in series A financing, led by Octagon Capital. The company will develop earlier-stage assets than those Novartis purchased, including new, mutation-agnostic optogenetics technology to improve upon current gene therapies aimed at restoring functional vision to people with vision loss due to photoreceptor death.
Novartis AG is expanding its position in the optogenetics space with the acquisition of Vedere Bio Inc., bringing with it a program aimed at vision loss prevention and treatment. Shareholders of Vedere, created in June 2019 through the Atlas Venture incubator, received $150 million up front and are eligible for up to $130 million in milestone payments, bringing the total to $280 million.