Rinri has capitalised on its unique deep understanding of developmental and auditory biology to build protocols to produce auditory neuron progenitor cells. These cells have been engineered to match natural cochlear phenotypes and functional physiological characteristics.
Under the right conditions, we have shown that these progenitor cells are able to mature into functional auditory neuron cells which exhibit the same morphology and electrophysiology as native cells of the inner ear.
Our preclinical studies have clearly demonstrated that when we deliver our cells to the damaged cochlea, they survive, engraft, mature, and re-establish neural connections to auditory hair cells and the wider auditory neural architecture. In models of auditory neuropathy these cells result in a reversal of hearing loss and a ~40% improvement in the ABR hearing threshold 1.
1 Chen, W., Jongkamonwiwat, N., Abbas, L. et al. Restoration of auditory evoked responses by human ES-cell-derived otic progenitors. Nature 490 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11415