We have been selected as one of six companies to advance past the document screening for the “JHVS Venture Awards 2025.”

We will be presenting our pitch at the Japan Healthcare Venture Summit (JHVS) 2025 venue around 3:30 PM on October 9th. We will also have an exhibition booth open until October 10th, so please stop by.

Our booth：V-40

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center & C3 Davos of Healthcare™ Japan Summit (September 24, 2025, Okura Hotel, Tokyo) will feature a presentation by our Representative Director, Kato. This conference is an international gathering on healthcare in Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Japan, hosted by King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre (KFSH&RC), which promotes world-class medical care and cutting-edge research in Saudi Arabia. Our company was recommended by JETRO New York as one of five Japanese startups developing innovative medical technologies.

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center & C3 Davos of Healthcare™ Japan Summit "A TRI-NATION COLLABORATION: BUILDING BRIDGES BEYOND BORDERS IN HEALTHCARE"

We will be exhibiting at the Japan Healthcare Venture Summit (JHVS) from Wednesday, October 8, to Friday, October 10, at Pacifico Yokohama. The JHVS is held concurrently with Bio Japan 2025.

Our booth：V-40

We present the status of clinical development preparations of Schwann cell therapy for damaged nerves, along with functional cell assays using Schwann cells, motor neurons, and skeletal muscle tissue created by SCAD.

NIKKEI Asia has published coverage of the NIKKEI Drug Discovery Ecosystem Summit (June 24-25). Our presentation is featured in “Nikkei Drug Discovery Startup Pitch Finalists: Day 2.”

NIKKEI Drug Discovery Ecosystem Summit

An article about SCAD was featured in today's August 7 edition of the Nikkei Newspaper's Drug Discovery Ecosystem Summit special report. It states that SCAD is rushing to prepare for clinical trials of Schwann cell therapy.

We are pleased to announce that Kensuke Kato, CEO of our company, has been selected as a finalist for the venture pitch at the Nikkei Drug Discovery Ecosystem Summit, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo on June 24 and 25. He will talk about the latest developments in Schwann cell therapy. This is a large-scale event sponsored and co-hosted by the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and several major pharmaceutical companies.

NIKKEI Drug Discovery Ecosystem Summit

In Palo Alto, we have been selected as a member of the Japan Innovation Campus, operated by METI, JETRO Startup, and Mori Building. We will utilize this site as a base for our US business expansion.

Japan Innovation Campus

Granted Patent for “Heart-on-a-Chip Microdevice”
We are excited to announce that we have been granted a Japanese patent for our "Heart-on-a-Chip Microdevice” (HMD), developed in collaboration with Dr. Hidetoshi Masumoto, Research Leader at The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (currently a Professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Faculty of Medicine of Kyoto University). This innovative device uses human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to enable sensitive and quantitative measurements of cardiac functions and incorporates our fiber frame technology to support cardiac muscle. The granted patent highlights the potential of HMD as a valuable tool for analyzing cardiac function and evaluating the efficacy and safety of drugs. We will continue our collaborative research to further improve the accuracy and stability of this groundbreaking technology.

Patent Decision on “Neural Cell Culture Device”
We are pleased to announce that we have been granted patent rights in Japan for our neural cell culture device with oriented fiber sheet (The patent has already been granted in the United States). This innovative device consists of an oriented fiber sheet and a frame that holds it in place. Compared to traditional two-dimensional cultures, our device enables neurons to form a three-dimensional functional network at early stages. Additionally, it allows for long-term, stable cultivation with reduced cell aggregation and detachment. This technology has already been recognized as a valuable tool for analyzing neural function and evaluating the efficacy and safety of drugs, as reported in a recent study.

BIOMATERIALS RESEARCH・20 Dec 2022・Vol 26, Issue 1

At the 24th Congress of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine (March 20-22), we will present our research development of the highly efficient manufacturing method of clinical-grade Schwann cells from pluripotent stem cells (ES/iPS cell lines) and their regenerative effectiveness for treatment of the nerve damage (March 20, Abstract No. O-11-2).
In addition, our collaborative research partner, Department of Orthopedics, Kyoto University Hospital, will also give presentation on the effectiveness in nerve regeneration and functional recovery by transplantation of our Schwann cells in a rat peripheral nerve injury model (March 20, Abstract No. O-11-5).
These research results show the clinical applicability of our Schwann cells as a therapeutic approach for various types of nerve injuries that are difficult to treat.

The 24th Congress of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine

Kensuke Kato, CEO of SCAD, will be presenting at the Biotech Showcase, an event within JP Morgan Life Science Week, the largest biotech event in the U.S., held in San Francisco from January 13-15, 2025 (PST).
He will introduce our groundbreaking technology for regenerating and repairing damaged nerves.

Stem Cell & Device Laboratory, Inc. Presenting at Biotech Showcase™!

The Nikkei Biotech reported “Stem Cell & Device Laboratory (SCAD) Develops ES Cell-Derived Schwann Cells for Regenerative Medicine to Repair Nerves".

In this article, it is introduced that Schwann cells are being developed as a regenerative medicine product to treat damaged nerves. It also mentioned that injured nerves were restored and motor functions improved in animal experiments, and that SCAD plans to start physician-led clinical trials at Kyoto University in 2026 or later.
The report included that plans for spinal cord injury follow the first indication of carpal tunnel syndrome, and that SCAD is targeting the expansion of indications to traumatic nerve injury and entrapment neuropathy other than carpal tunnel syndrome.

SCAD has been selected for the BioTech / MedTech course of the Global Startup Acceleration Program (GSAP), a program by JETRO in cooperation with the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to support startups' overseas business development. With the support of Baker Labs an incubator at UC Berkeley, qb3 and Ensanté, we will prepare for business development in the US.

Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

At the 35th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Peripheral Nerve Society Research to be held on September 6-7, we will make a presentation on “Production of Schwann cells that can be expected to promote nerve regeneration using human pluripotent stem cells”. In addition, a collaborative research partner, the Department of Orthopedics, Kyoto University Hospital, will make a presentation on the effects of transplantation of the SCAD’s Schwann cells on nerve regeneration in a rat peripheral nerve injury model. These research results will be the basic functionality and effectiveness for the development of treatments for various types of nerve damage using SCAD’s Schwann cells.

The 35th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Peripheral Nerve Society Research

RIKEN BDR researcher Dr. Kozue Murata, collaborating with SCAD, presented her research at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2024 held in London, August 30 - September 2, 2024.
Through the collaborative research with us, SCAD's aligned fiber devices have been applied to Heart-on-Chip Micro device (HMD) that evaluate the drug response of iPS cell-derived cardiac micro tissue. This has led to the development of the SCAD-HMD, which has improved throughput and stability and is capable of longer-term cardiotoxicity evaluation.

ESC Congress 2024 - European Society of Cardiology

A research article on our new method of inducing differentiation of iPS cells into Schwann cells has been published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (BBRC).

This induction method can reliably produce a large number of Schwann cells that highly express the mature Schwann cell marker (MBP), and we have confirmed that these mature Schwann cells produce nerve growth factor (NGF) and other factors that promote neurite outgrowth and regeneration.
This technology will be applied to drug discovery research for peripheral neuropathies and Schwann cell therapy for damaged nerves. A patent of this induction method has been filed.

We are pleased to announce that we were selected as a grant recipient for the " Go-Tech Program 2024 (Growth-oriented R&D Support Program for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises)" by METI (the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). The grant will support our R&D for the world's first regenerative medicine / cell therapy for damaged nerves using pluripotent stem cell-derived Schwann cells. The grant is for approximately 100 million yen, SCAD will be the main organization to manage and execute the project for the manufacturing Schwann cells for clinical therapeutics, in collaboration with Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine and Kyoto University Hospital. SCAD will also receive advice from the Institute for Life and Medical Sciences of Kyoto University, the Department of Neurology of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, and the Department of Neurosurgery of Mitsui Memorial Hospital.

METI Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

At Bio International Convention 2024 held June 3-6 in San Diego, Kensuke Kato, CEO of SCAD participated in the Japan Innovation Luncheon (a pitch/exhibition event for US investors and life science businesses) as a spin-out event organized by the Japan government / JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization). SCAD was selected by the Japanese government/JETRO as one of the 13 leading bio-tech startups to participate in this event, which included a pre-acceleration program.

METI Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Consulate-General of Japan in Los Angeles

"SCAD and Kyoto University have started a joint research project to realize cell therapy and regenerative medicine using Schwann cells."
SCAD and Kyoto University have entered into a joint research agreement as of August 1, 2023 with Associate Professor Ryosuke Ikeguchi of Kyoto University Hospital and Professor Tomoki Aoyama of Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine for the development of a new cellular medicine using Schwann cells produced by SCAD. We are aiming at new cell therapy and regenerative medicine for nerve damage such as peripheral nerve injury, by using the Schwann cells which have been used for drug discovery assays in SCAD.
Schwann cells, the major glial cells of the nervous system, are considered to be deeply involved in the regeneration and repair of neurons and axons. However, to date, it has been difficult to produce them stably from human pluripotent stem cells or other sources, and so far, little progress has been realized in their practical application as cellular medicines. We have improved and optimized the differentiation induction method for Schwann cells and have succeeded in efficient and stable production of Schwann cells from human pluripotent stem cell lines.
In the joint research with Kyoto University, we will start pre-clinical experiments using animal disease models to examine the possibility of clinical application of Schwann cells produced by SCAD by testing their effectiveness in neural repair and other aspects. When promising results are obtained in the animal experiments, we will plan to start clinical research for the world's first cell therapy and regenerative medicine by using Schwann cells.

SCAD has succeeded in efficiently generating Schwann cells from iPS cells, which are deeply related to the regeneration and repair of the peripheral nervous system. Information on this Schwann cell service has been updated.

We relocated our lab to Kyoto University Med-Pharm Collaboration BLDG. (Innovation Hub Kyoto).