Stemina branches out

Stemina branches out

By Judy Newman, Madison.com

SteminaFor the past eight years, Madison stem cell company Stemina Biomarker Discovery has been pushing forward in two areas — using its devTOX stem cell technology to test drugs, chemicals, cosmetics and household products for the potential to cause birth defects, and developing a test that will identify biomarkers in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Now, Stemina is splitting those two missions into separate divisions. Stemina will handle the toxicity testing and the new division, NeuroPointDX, will focus on diagnosing autism and, eventually, other neurological conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, CEO Beth Donley said.
“Now that we have revenue-producing services on the toxicology side of our business and will be launching our first diagnostic test, it is necessary to give each of these business lines their own identity,” Donley said.
Stemina launched a major study last fall — the Children’s Autism Metabolome Project, or CAMP. It will involve 1,500 children, one-third of whom have autism, one-third with other neurodevelopmental disorders, and one-third without those conditions. Eight sites are lined up to conduct the blood tests and 190 youngsters have participated in the study so far, Donley said. Read more …