Crystal Nyitray, PhD, CEO and co-founder of the 2016 Rosenman Innovator company Encellin, was recently profiled extensively on Fierce Biotech.
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The transplantation of insulin-producing cells could free people with Type 1 diabetes from daily insulin injections, but this approach has run into hurdles such as a limited treatment benefit and the need for lifelong immunosuppression.
Encapsulating the cells in an insulating pouch can eliminate the need for immune suppression, but that creates another problem: the formation of scar tissue around the implant that impedes the cells’ work.
“Scar tissue or fibrosis is a known failure point around implants. It creates a barrier for the cells, and can lead to poor survival of the cells around the implant,” Crystal Nyitray, Ph.D., told FierceBiotech. Nyitray is the CEO and co-founder of Encellin, a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) spinout looking to solve these problems with nanotechnology.