Meeting on the Med 2022 | Autologous tissue-engineered solutions for spinal cord injuries

Asaf Toker, MD, Matricelf, Ness Ziona, Israel, discusses autologous neural implants for patients with spinal cord injuries, which consists of the implant itself and a scaffold. Omental tissue extracted from the patient via a biopsy is decellularized, resulting in the formation of thermo-responsive hydrogel that serves as the scaffold for the tissue-engineered product. Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from the patient’s mature cells within the thermo-responsive hydrogel results in the formation of neural cells that can connect damaged spinal tissue. First-in-man clinical trials for the product are planned in 2025 in patients with spinal cord injuries. This interview was conducted during Meeting on the Mediterranean 2022.