Company Announcements

Cellino successfully manufactures and delivers autologous iPSC lines from four donors to Matricelf for groundbreaking neural tissue engineering

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 11, 2025-- Cellino and Matricelf (TASE: MTLF) announced today a collaboration to accelerate the global biomanufacturing of personalized spinal cord injury treatments using Cellino’s Nebula™ technology combined with Matricelf’s breakthrough regenerative approach. This collaboration combines Cellino’s automated iPSC manufacturing with Matricelf’s double autologous 3D differentiation process, paving the way for scalable, patient-specific regenerative therapies.

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Image caption: Cellino generated iPSC transformed by Matricelf into functional neural tissue (Photo: Business Wire)

Nebula™, Cellino’s proprietary closed-cassette biomanufacturing system, is designed to produce high-quality induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) at scale with unparalleled consistency and sterility. This innovation allows for on-demand, contamination-free iPSC production, bringing regenerative medicine closer to real-world clinical application.

As a key milestone, Cellino has successfully manufactured and delivered autologous iPSC lines from four donors to Matricelf, a biotech company developing regenerative therapies for spinal cord injury. Matricelf’s approach integrates an extracellular matrix-based hydrogel derived from the patient’s own omentum, facilitating precise cell differentiation and tissue formation while eliminating the need for immunosuppression.

Matricelf has now transformed Cellino-generated iPSCs into functional neural tissues, demonstrating synchronized electrical activity—a hallmark of functional neural networks. Rigorous industry-standard assays confirmed key neural characteristics, including genetic and protein neural marker expression of engineered tissues with Cellino’s iPSCs, with results comparable to Matricelf’s own iPSC-derived tissues.

With the goal of redefining treatment paradigms for spinal cord injury, Matricelf plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application next year to bring its autologous iPSC-derived therapy into clinical trials. This transformative approach addresses an urgent unmet need, potentially restoring function for millions of patients worldwide.

“Collaboration on this international scale is a vital step toward our vision of a fully autologous regenerative therapy for spinal cord injury,” said Gil Hakim, CEO of Matricelf. “Matricelf’s innovative platform, in combination with Cellino’s Nebula™ technology, is setting new standards in scalable patient-specific tissue engineering, bringing us closer to real-world applications of regenerative medicine.”

“The ability to produce high-quality, patient-specific iPSCs at scale is poised to revolutionize regenerative medicine,” said Marinna Madrid, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer, Cellino. “Our collaboration with Matricelf exemplifies how international collaboration can accelerate innovation and expand access to life-changing therapies.”

This collaboration highlights both companies' commitment to harnessing advanced technologies - ranging from AI-driven automation and high-throughput biomanufacturing to pioneering sophisticated neural tissue engineering to accelerate the commercialization of next-generation regenerative therapies for neurological diseases worldwide.

About Cellino
Cellino is a leader in advanced biomanufacturing technology, committed to making personalized cell, tissue, and organ replacements a reality for patients around the world. Learn more at cellinobio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and X.

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Source: Cellino