A member of the state's biotechnology sector recently received a funding boost from the Arrowhead Innovation Fund at New Mexico State University.
The company, TNeuroPharma, is developing a blood test designed to detect Alzheimer's disease. The company is led by founder and CEO Kristina Trujillo, a former assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the UNM School of Medicine. To date, TNeuoPharma has raised more than $1.2 million in financing, according to NMSU, which did not disclose the amount of the Arrowhead Innovation Fund's investment.
The fund has invested in several New Mexico tech companies, including Parting Stone, which turns human remains into stone-like shapes. It announced its first investment in 2018 and targets companies seeking between $25,000 and $200,000 in seed capital. In 2017, the fund was awarded $800,000 from the state's Catalyst Fund.
TNeuro's platform is based on research from Christopher Wheeler, TNeuroPharma chief science officer, which started when he was working for Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
While in Los Angeles, Wheeler identified a group of abnormal T cells, a part of a person's immune system that attacks foreign particles in the body and enter the brain, leading to the loss of neurons — brain cells that transmit information to other cells. Furthermore, Wheeler has "shown in animals that blocking these T-cells’ entry into brain, or their proper functioning once there, prevents Alzheimer’s disease progression," according to a release from NMSU.
The T-cells responsible for the initial stages of Alzheimer's are detectable in a blood sample and, according to the company, can identify an early-stage Alzheimer's patient. To do so, the company wants to use its T-Track Diagnostic Assay product, which it will develop with money from the Arrowhead Innovation Fund. The company is also working to develop a product called the T-Treat Therapeutic, meant to keep the disease from progressing by keeping such T cells out of the brain and inhibiting the ones that are already there from functioning properly.
If successful, the company's technology would represent a breakthrough in the care of Alzheimer's. There is no cure for Alzheimer's or a way to stop or slow its progression, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Some may also consider blood tests to be less invasive than other methods used to diagnose Alzheimer's, which include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans.
"Even though my background was in cancer, Dr. Wheeler’s Alzheimer’s research was so groundbreaking that when the opportunity to start T-Neuro came up, I couldn’t say no,” Trujillo said in a statement.
“This technology has the potential to save millions of families from this devastating disease. I had to do something to bring it to market, so that’s when Chris and I decided to start T-Neuro."
