Women TechEU finances i3S researchers startup

Fetaldisc, a Portuguese startup made up of i3S researchers with the aim of treating low back pain, will receive 75 thousand euros from the “Women TechEU” program, promoted by the European Commission. The team developed and submitted a patent application for the first injectable fetal biomaterial to regenerate the intervertebral disc and this funding will now allow the product to be validated in pre-clinical trials and consolidate the business model, in order to facilitate its commercialization.

This European Commission initiative aims to promote female entrepreneurship in the area of technology. This year it has financed 134 technology-based companies led by women. In Portugal, seven startups were financed, one of which is Fetaldisc. Led by i3S/INEB researcher Joana Caldeira the team is also made up of researchers Morena Fiordalisi, doctoral student in the Biotechealth doctoral program, Raquel Gonçalves, researcher at the i3S and professor at ICBAS, and Hugo Prazeres, coordinator of the Innovation Office at the i3S. The work was carried out in the “Microenvironments for New Therapies” group, at the i3S, and in the Regenerative Medicine laboratory, at ICBAS.

During the research process, the team used waste from the livestock industry, which is usually incinerated, and was able to identify the existence of pro-regenerative components in fetal intervertebral discs. More recently, explains Joana Caldeira “we have shown that after processing in the laboratory these tissues have a greater regenerative potential - that is, we have seen a reappearance of proteins typical of a healthy environment in disc cells cultivated in bovine fetal biomaterials”.
In addition, adds the researcher, “the biomaterial we developed also has the capacity to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis and which is related to the intensity of pain, mobility, and quality of life of patients”.

The technology we use, says Joana Caldeira, “is based on the processing of fetal tissue in order to eliminate the cells existing therein, maintaining most of the other biochemical and structural components characteristic of the stages of embryonic development”. In the next phase, “we proceed to lyophilization (dehydration at low temperatures), to obtain a long useful life of the material in question and save on the storage process, so that it can be later injected in the form of suspended particles”.
With an injectable material, underlines the researcher, “the need for invasive surgeries is eliminated for patients with low back pain and the intervention, recovery and hospitalization time is reduced”. This biomaterial also has the “advantage of being able to be produced in a simple, safe, accessible and scalable way”.

As for the success of this procedure, Joana Caldeira explains that “the sooner the intervention is carried out, the greater its potential is expected, namely being able to provide a preventive effect”. The team also foresees that this biomaterial may have a broader application in degenerative cartilage diseases that affect other joints, namely the knee, hip and shoulder, amongst others.