ImStem Research Laboratory
We are the research laboratory of ImStem Biotechnology, founded in 2012 in Farmington, Connecticut. We study how human pluripotent stem cells can be directed into mesenchymal stem cells of defined, reproducible quality — and what those cells do in models of autoimmune, degenerative and rare disease.
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What we study
Our work runs from developmental cell biology through to the manufacturing science and preclinical pharmacology needed to test a cell product in people.
Directed differentiation through a trophoblast-like intermediate produces mesenchymal stem cells with properties that adult tissue-derived MSCs do not share. We study why that intermediate matters, and what the resulting cells are developmentally — including by injecting them into mouse blastocysts to read out their potency in a living embryo.
We characterise immunomodulation quantitatively: cytokine secretion profiles, MHC class II expression, T-cell subset infiltration, natural killer cell susceptibility, and effects on blood–brain barrier permeability in defined in vitro models.
Reproducibility is a scientific problem before it is an industrial one. We work on serum-free derivation, scalable 3D spheroid culture, ambient-temperature preservation and engineering approaches that extend cell persistence after infusion.
Findings are tested in EAE and primate models of multiple sclerosis, chemically induced colitis, spontaneous osteoarthritis in rhesus macaques, wound healing, pulmonary fibrosis, graft-versus-host disease and models of dopaminergic injury.
Core platform
The differentiation route below is the centre of the laboratory's work and the subject of patents granted in the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, Australia and Canada.
Selected publications
A selection from the laboratory's peer-reviewed record. Every citation links to the publisher of record and to PubMed.
Translation
IMS001, the first cell product from this platform, received FDA Investigational New Drug clearance in March 2020 for the study of multiple sclerosis, supported by GLP toxicology, biodistribution, tumorigenicity and immunogenicity packages.
A Phase 1 study of IMS001 in multiple sclerosis is registered as NCT04956744, with a listed enrolment of 30 participants and a study start date of 31 August 2021.
Persistence after infusion, dosing interval, delivery route and the relative contribution of secreted vesicles versus whole cells all remain active areas of investigation.
