A major breakthrough in regenerative medicine is on the horizon. Today, Cellino and Matricelf announced a global collaboration aimed at advancing personalized spinal cord injury treatments. By integrating Cellino’s Nebula™ technology—an AI-driven biomanufacturing platform for iPSCs—with Matricelf’s double autologous 3D differentiation process, the partnership is paving the way for scalable, patient-specific therapies.

Automating Regenerative Medicine at Scale

Cellino’s Nebula™, a fully automated closed-cassette system, is designed to generate high-quality induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with unparalleled consistency and sterility. This cutting-edge platform enables on-demand iPSC production, eliminating contamination risks and bringing regenerative therapies closer to clinical application.

In a key milestone, Cellino has successfully manufactured and delivered autologous iPSC lines from four donors to Matricelf, a biotech innovator developing next-generation regenerative treatments for spinal cord injuries. Matricelf’s approach combines these iPSCs with an extracellular matrix-based hydrogel derived from a patient’s own omentum—an approach that enhances cell differentiation supports tissue formation, and eliminates the need for immunosuppression.

A Leap Forward in Neural Tissue Engineering

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

This advancement signals a new era in spinal cord injury treatment, with Matricelf planning to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application next year to bring its autologous iPSC-derived therapy to clinical trials. If successful, this approach could restore function to millions of patients worldwide who currently lack effective treatment options.

Driving Global Innovation in Regenerative Medicine

“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.”

Marinna Madrid, PhD., Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Cellino, echoed this sentiment: “The ability to produce high-quality, patient-specific iPSCs at scale is poised to revolutionize regenerative medicine. Our collaboration with Matricelf exemplifies how international partnerships can accelerate innovation and expand access to life-changing therapies.” Marinna is also Chari of the Biopharma Solutions: Tools & Technologies Track at this year’s SynBioBeta: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference, taking place May 6-8 at the San Jose Convention Center. 

By combining AI-driven automation, high-throughput biomanufacturing, and cutting-edge neural tissue engineering, Cellino and Matricelf are reshaping the future of spinal cord injury treatment. This partnership underscores the potential of next-generation regenerative therapies to transform lives on a global scale.