Prellis Biologics Secures $14.5M to Advance 'Human Immune System-in-a-Dish' Technology

Prellis Biologics Secures $14.5 Million in Series B Funding

Prellis Biologics, a pioneering firm in the field of 3D-printed organs, has announced the successful completion of a $14.5 million Series B funding round on Wednesday. The company has dedicated considerable effort to advancing tissue engineering capabilities, with a recent emphasis on a specific structural development.

Focus Shift to Human Lymph Node Models

Previously, Prellis concentrated on 3D printing vascular scaffolds. These scaffolds are designed to facilitate the growth of healthy, oxygenated human organs – or smaller, representative models known as organoids – for applications in drug testing and, ultimately, transplantation. However, the company has recently unveiled a novel product: EXIS, an acronym for Externalized Immune System, representing a lab-cultivated human lymph node.

Lymph nodes are integral components of the human immune system, serving as storage sites for immune cells and playing a crucial role in generating immune responses. These organoid lymph nodes are intended to enhance drug development by accurately simulating a person’s immune system reaction to new therapies, potentially leading to the creation of innovative drugs.

“By establishing this immune system within a controlled laboratory setting, we can effectively assess the potential for therapeutic agents to trigger an immune response before human trials,” explained founder and CEO Melanie Matheu in a statement to TechCrunch.

“A key differentiator for our company is that EXIS is entirely human-derived, offering a more physiologically relevant model.”

Company Growth and New Leadership

Founded in 2016, Prellis Biologics has now raised approximately $29.5 million in funding. This Series B round was spearheaded by Celesta Capital and existing investor Khosla Ventures, with additional participation from SOSV IndieBio. Furthermore, the company is expanding its leadership team.

Kevin Chapman, a Celesta advisor and former Chief Scientific Officer of Berkeley Lights, will assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer. Yelda Kaya, previously with J&J Innovation, will join as Chief Business Officer.

Predicting Immune Responses with In-Vitro Models

The significance of lymph node responses in predicting systemic immune reactions has long been recognized. Consequently, numerous academic laboratories are actively engaged in developing in-vitro models of human lymph nodes, ranging from lymph nodes on chips to the cultivation of lymphoid organoids from tonsil tissue.

Prellis has entered this area by leveraging its scaffold technology to promote the necessary oxygen and nutrient exchange for the growth of functional lymph node organoids. This approach, according to Matheu, enables the company to “recreate the human immune system outside of the body.”

Expanding into Antibody Drug Development

This strategic focus on the lymph node unlocks a new avenue for the company: antibody drug development. The process of creating novel antibody treatments and forecasting their clinical performance is becoming increasingly competitive, with several distinct approaches being pursued.

Some strategies are computationally driven. Nabla Bio, having recently secured $11 million in funding, utilizes natural language processing for antibody design. Generate Bio, which raised a $370 million Series B, employs a machine learning methodology.

Prellis’ strategy centers on modeling the immune system on a small scale and identifying potential drug candidates by analyzing immune responses. Matheu characterizes this as “natural intelligence” in contrast to artificial intelligence.

Generating Antibody Libraries

The company can generate 1,200 organoids from a single blood sample, expose these immune systems to a specific antigen, and observe the resulting immune responses. This process can be repeated with blood donors exhibiting diverse immune system characteristics, yielding a wide range of responses for analysis.

“It is uncommon for all individuals to produce the identical antibody solution to the question of whether it binds to a specific protein. From a single individual, we typically observe between 500 and 2,000 unique antibodies, and multiplying this by the number of donors results in a substantial collection of target-binding antibodies,” Matheu stated.

The creation of an “antibody library” from a blood draw takes approximately 18 days, according to materials provided by Prellis Biologics.

[Image of Prellis Biologics raising $14.5m, debuting a ‘human immune system’ in a dish]

Early Results and Future Plans

Matheu reports that the company has generated antibodies reactive to SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A, and Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever (these findings are currently unpublished). Prellis is establishing partnerships with five pharmaceutical companies, though the specific identities of these partners remain undisclosed.

The company intends to utilize this funding to transition from a research and development-focused organization to one centered on product delivery – which entails forging additional drug partnerships and demonstrating the platform’s capabilities.

The primary indicator of success, she asserts, would be the advancement of an antibody treatment into clinical trials. This may be achieved through collaboration with a pharmaceutical partner, although the company has not dismissed the possibility of developing its own therapeutic pipeline.

Matheu remains reserved regarding specifics but confirms that Prellis is developing “internal technology” to support a therapeutic pipeline.

“I can state that we will move in that direction as the technology matures,” she concluded.

*This story has been updated to reflect that Prellis is developing partnerships with drug companies, but has not yet entered into them and to include mention of investor SOSV IndieBio.