July 2 Preclinical Quick Takes: Semma plans 2020 clinical trials of stem cell-derived islet products and more

Semma to bring stem cell-derived islet therapies for diabetes to clinic in 2020
Semma Therapeutics Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.) plans to start Phase I testing in early 2020 of its stem cell-derived islets combined with immunosuppression in "brittle" diabetes with hypoglycemia unawareness, and a subsequent immunosuppression-free Phase I trial later that year of the islets encapsulated in the company's immunoprotective device to treat adult Type I diabetics. Semma presented data at the International Society for Stem Cell Research meeting in Los Angeles on June 29 showing that the islets, when combined with immunosuppression in non-human primates, remained functional for over six weeks and reduced the need for insulin by >60%; and, when delivered in the device to pigs, secreted insulin with minimal cell death or and device rejection.

MIT, Hebrew U team's screen for cell type-specific synthetic promoters
Timothy Lu and colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Hebrew University of Jerusalem described a method in a Nature Communications paper that identifies synthetic promoters for use in any desired cell type or state, for example in stem cells vs. differentiated cells or in normal vs. cancerous cells. The method combines next-generation DNA sequencing with machine learning in a cell-based screen of promoter libraries. The authors have filed a patent application for the strategy, which could be used to pick synthetic promoters for cell type-dependent gene therapies and production of stem cell-derived therapies...