Trailhead Biosystems Inc. has completed a $10 million fundraise to accelerate its growth as a maker of specialized human cells used in medical research.
The Beachwood, Ohio-based company has developed a platform that uses "induced pluripotent stem cells" — skin or blood cells that have been reprogrammed back into an embryonic-like state — to make specialized human cells used in therapeutic cell development, drug discovery, organ-on-a-chip development, 3D organ printing and human disease modeling, Trailhead Biosystems said in a statement.
Trailhead said it would use its new capital to complete the fit-out of its 15,000-square-foot headquarters and laboratory in Beachwood's Commerce Park industrial park to "sustain continued and scaled development of human cells and deliver them to industry and clinical partners."
The need for specialized human cells is substantial, said Jan Jensen, CEO and founder of Trailhead Biosystems, in his company's statement.
But making these specialized cells in a bioreactor is difficult, leading Trailhead to develop its proprietary, machine-enabled method that gives it the ability "to identify the critical inputs that cells would have received if they were in the embryo," Jensen said.
As a result, Trailhead Biosystems can make these specialized cells "at scale, at a high quality and with less risk for research and development," he said.
Trailhead has developed protocols for making specialized brain, blood and pancreas cells and is pursuing several others, the company said. These cells can be used to address human diseases including Type I diabetes, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and blood disorders, Trailhead said.
Trailhead Biosystems sprang from the OH-Alive Innovator Platform at the National Center for Regenerative Medicine hosted by Case Western Reserve University, according to Jensen's LinkedIn page.
Jensen was the scientific director for OH-Alive, which was funded by Ohio's Third Frontier program, from 2013 to 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He also was diabetes research director for Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute from September 2007 to November 2020, when he became Trailhead's full-time CEO and chief scientific officer, his profile states.
That's also when Trailhead Biosystems raised its first venture capital investment of $6.6 million, according to a company statement. In all, Trailhead has raised $18.7 million from investors since June 2020, according to Crunchbase.
