Leveraging stem cell technology, genomics and AI to transform mental health and neurology

Leveraging novel-prize winning technology, blood is reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – cells that can take on any role, depending on the environment to which they are exposed.

iPSCs in turn are differentiated into neurons using a precisely timed exposure to a series of stimuli. Neurons can be directed to differentiate to specific subtypes, according to disease focus, e.g. frontal cortex neurons for major depression

Neuronal plasticity refers to the mechanism by which neurons and synapses, the connections enabling communication between neurons, adapt throughout development and in response to life circumstances, to guide behavior.

Neuronal plasticity is associated with mental and neurological diseases, and is modulated by effective drug treatment. Morphological and molecular processes underlying neuronal plasticity are assessed in derived neurons from individual patients using state-of-the-art tools and computational approaches.

Combining Computer Vision tools to enable precise and unbiased quantification of morphological features with Machine Learning approaches to develop robust classifiers that assign patients into accurate clinical phenotypes

Combining morphological, molecular, and clinical data trained on large and diverse data sets to generate a validated signature of drug response that can be assessed in each individual