Based on the need for a more effective treatment modalities for excitable tissue disorders (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, Cardiac arrhythmias, etc’), we have developed a novel technology platform, that is based on transplantation of cell grafts, isolated from the patient own body, that express specific ion channels. The grafted cells integrate functionally and structurally with the target organ and their electrical properties are derived from the expressed ion channels. The target organ electrical properties are modulated in a predetermined way. This technology will be used for the treatment of neurological disorders and cardiac arrhythmias.

Long term drug treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequently associated with motor fluctuation. The most effective treatment for advanced PD patients is deep brain stimulation (DBS). However, DBS is associated with cognitive changes in up to 41% and with limited efficacy over the age of 70 years. GeneGrafts develops a treatment for advanced PD by transplantation of dermal fibroblasts to the basal ganglia nucleus - GPi. The fibroblasts integrate with the tissue and form structural and electrophysiological changes that are associated with desynchronization of the target pathologically overactive nucleus. The company demonstrated the efficacy of this approach in multiple long-term studies (up to 12 months) on parkinsonian rats. GeneGrafts is currently conducting a GLP study on Parkinsonian non human primates at the University of Illinois at Chicago to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the technology before moving forward to phase I/II clinical trial.