Mogrify strengthens IP position for cell conversion technology
Mogrify has strengthened its intellectual property position surrounding the stunning core technology that enables it to carry out direct cell conversions.
The Cambridge Science Park company has also extended the method used to allow for the inclusion of new data sources and more accurate transcription factor predictions.
The expansion of rights has enabled Mogrify to bring the latest version of the technology - MOGRIFY V2 - in-house.
Joe Foster, chief operating officer, Mogrify, said: “The progress we have made in securing our IP position will enable further commercialization via internal development programs and co-development partnerships.
“MOGRIFY V2 enables the inclusion of new sources of data and delivers enhanced prediction quality, prediction accuracy, and cell conversion efficacy, helping the company to engineer an evergreen and scalable source of cell types that exhibit efficacy and safety profiles necessary to address diseases with a high unmet clinical need.”
The platform uses a systematic big data approach developed over 10 years via a multinational research collaboration.
Using next-generation sequencing and gene regulatory data, it enables the prediction of the transcription factors or small molecules and the culture medium conditions required to produce - ex vivo or in vivo - any target cell type from any source cell type.
Mogrify’s patent portfolio includes data for more than 150 cell types. More than 30 cell conversions are covered in the foundational patent filing with two additional conversion specific patents filed covering the production of chondrocytes and fetal cardiomyocytes.
More conversion specific patents are expected as Mogrify develops its product pipeline to serve the demand for off-the-shelf therapies.
Mogrify has negotiated terms enabling use of the foundational patent from RIKEN, University of Bristol and Monash University, which covers the method of direct cell differentiation and exemplified predictions of numerous human cell conversions.
The latest version of the technology was in-licensed from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge with support from LifeArc and incorporates next-generation bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing data into the algorithm.
By bringing it in-house, Mogrify says it will be able to identify the key regulators required to convert any cell type in the human body.
Dr Alastair Hick, senior director at Monash Innovation, said: “We are excited to continue strengthening our relationship with Mogrify and to support their commercialization efforts. It is great to see the significant progress the company has made on multiple fronts to develop this exciting technology platform."
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