The company, Talaris Therapeutics Inc., has listed its shares on the NASDAQ Stock Market exchange under the ticker symbol “TALS.”��

Talaris is working to develop and market , which is intended to help transplant recipients to stay off immunosuppression drugs they would otherwise need for the rest of their lives. The therapy was invented at UofL by researcher and innovator Suzanne Ildstad, who founded the company and now serves as its chief scientific officer.

The therapy is designed to prevent organ rejection without the morbidity and mortality that has been associated with the use of lifelong anti-rejection medicines. Talaris has an exclusive license to the technology, which was developed by Ildstad’s lab at UofL, through .

Immunosuppressants help prevent rejection of the transplanted organ, but can cause serious side effects, including high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, neurological effects, increased risk of infection and decline in kidney function over time.

With this therapy, the goal is “helping organ transplant recipients no longer be dependent on immunosuppressive drugs, resulting in a greatly improved quality of life,” Ildstad said previously. “The support and research infrastructure at UofL have been invaluable in our journey to this important juncture.”

FCR001 consists of stem and immune cells taken from the organ donor and processed at Talaris’ GMP cell processing facility, then infused into the organ transplant recipient. The goal is to create a durable “dual immune system” (part donor-derived and part recipient) in the transplant recipient where these two immune systems coexist, recognizing both the recipient’s own body as well as the donated organ as self.

“This technology could help transplant patients live fuller, healthier lives,”��said UofL Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, Kevin Gardner.��“This UofL research, in the hands of strong industry partners and backed by sophisticated life sciences investors and now public shareholders, is a big step in advancing our health.”��

Talaris has secured significant funding over the past two years. In 2019, the company closed a , which it used to hire staff and initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial for its therapy — the last step before applying for FDA approval.

A year later, it to support that trial�� as well as two other Phase 2 trials that are expected to begin in the second half of 2021, including a planned Phase 2 trial of FCR001 in diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, a severe form of the rare autoimmune disease scleroderma.

, formerly known as Regenerex LLC, is using technology developed at UofL to allow living donor kidney transplant recipients to stay off immunosuppression drugs for the rest of their lives. In a Phase 2 study, the cell therapy, called FCR001, allowed 70% of living donor kidney transplant patients to be durably weaned off all of their immunosuppression treatments.

The unique cell therapy technology is a result of pioneering research conducted at UofL by the team of Suzanne Ildstad. Ildstad has spent 21 years as a “” researcher at UofL. She founded Talaris around her research and is the company’s chief scientific officer.

“This financing moves us one step closer to helping organ transplant recipients no longer be dependent on immunosuppressive drugs, resulting in a greatly improved quality of life,” Ildstad said. “The support and research infrastructure at UofL have been invaluable in our journey to this important juncture.”

The technology developed by Ildstad’s team was patented at UofL and is exclusively licensed by Talaris from UofL’s ��. Talaris plans to use the new funding to carry out a phase 3 clinical trial of FCR001. Longer term, the company plans to study whether FCR001 could be used for other organ transplants.

Talaris has about 25 employees in Louisville. Talaris’ research and cell processing facilities are based at UofL and the company also has a corporate office in Boston. As part of its licensing agreement with Talaris, the university will receive royalties from sales of any licensed products.

“This cutting-edge UofL research can have a significant impact on human health,”��said UofL President Neeli Bendapudi.��“This is a prime example of our��ability to work with industry partners and investors to help turn innovative research into valuable new products.”

Check out footage from the press conference:��

Keynton is a professor and the Lutz Endowed Chair of Biomechanical Devices of the Department of Bioengineering at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering. Keynton was founding chair of the bioengineering department, which under his tenure grew into the most productive basic and translational research department in the Speed School. He is also the director of research initiatives in the office of the executive vice president for research and innovation.

“I am humbled by the nomination and support from my colleagues at UofL and I am truly honored to have been selected to be a member of the National Academy of Inventors and to be associated with such a prestigious group,” Keynton said. ��

Keynton’s research focuses on Lab-on-a-Chip devices, microsensors, biomedical devices and biomaterials. He joined UofL in 1999 and has co-founded three companies with UofL colleagues. His career has centered on multidisciplinary research, which includes more than $51 million of funding from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation and the Veterans Administration.

“Professor Robert S. Keynton is a leader in research and innovation at UofL and the nation and around the world,” said William Pierce, UofL executive vice president for research and innovation, who was named an NAI Fellow in 2015. “As founder of our department of bioengineering, he has��built a talented faculty as he built his own research efforts.��He has brought in many millions of research��dollars in research funding individually and has led or helped lead development of our Nanotechnology Center, our Coulter Project initiative, our REACH (NIH) for proof-of-concept centers, and our NSF I-Corps Centers to provide opportunity for so many.��Currently he leads efforts that will provide opportunities for untold numbers of students, fellows and future alumni.��We are proud to have Rob as one of our leading innovators, inventors and scientists.”

Keynton is the fifth UofL researcher to be named an NAI Fellow. In addition to Pierce in 2015, honorees have been Suzanne T. Ildstad, MD, and Kevin M. Walsh in 2014 and Paula J. Bates in 2016.

With the election of the 2017 class there are 912 representing more than 250 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. The 2017 Fellows are named inventors on nearly 6,000 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 32,000 issued U.S. patents.

The new NAI Fellows will be inducted April 5 as part of the of the National Academy of Inventors at the Mayflower Hotel, Autograph Collection in��Washington, DC.