iZumi Bio Recruits iPS Scientist, John Dimos, to Translate Stem Cell Breakthrough Into Patient Benefits

iZumi Bio, Inc. has announced that John T. Dimos, Ph.D., first author of the landmark Science paper "Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Generated from Patients with ALS Can Be Differentiated into Motor Neurons," will join its team of scientists translating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell research into patient benefits. Dimos' work demonstrates the potential for iPS-derived cells in regenerative medicine.

iPS cells are "reprogrammed" adult cells that have similar applications and potential to those of human embryonic stem (ES) cells, yet do not raise the same ethical concerns and can be generated in a patient-specific manner to maintain the disease-causing genetic profile while avoiding immune rejection.

Dimos' Science publication demonstrates that iPS cells derived from an individual patient can be differentiated into motor neurons, the cell type affected in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Large-scale, standardized production of such iPS-derived cells could be used for a variety of applications including models for drug discovery and cell-based therapies.

Dimos conducted his work as a postdoctoral fellow in Kevin Eggan's lab at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Princeton University in Ihor Lemischka's laboratory, where he studied what defines a stem cell at the gene expression level.