Multi-omic analysis of diabetic neuropathy in iPSC derived sensory neurons

National Center For Advancing Translational Sciences

Investigators

Abstract

NCATS received four patient derived iPSC lines for differentiation into sensory neurons. When patient derived iPSCs were subjected to our nociceptor differentiation protocol, a reduction in the efficacy of differentiation was observed. The differentiation efficiency varied from 50 – 60% as measured via BRN3A and TUJ1 immunostaining. This variation is likely due the inherent genetic background variation between individual patients. This year, to address this issue the SCTL finished developing a new pipeline that modulates critical steps in the differentiation procotol allows for individualized optimization of our original protocol in cells from diverse genetic backgrounds. This protocol is is now being applied to DPN patient-derived iPSCs to achieve higher differentiation efficiencies that are more suitable for downstream multi-omic analysis. In addition, a manuscript describing the new protocol and workflow are being prepared for publication during FY25-26.