ISOS-ELM: A personalized Engineered Living Material-based therapeutic platform

Description. ISOS-ELM is a novel biomedical product based on Engineered Living Materials for the personalized treatment of chronic diseases, with an initial focus on wet Age-related Macular Degeneration. The system consists of an implantable biomaterial-based bioreactor containing probiotic genetically engineered bacteria programmed to sense pathological signals such as inflammation, oxidative stress, and abnormal VEGF expression. In response, the living system produces therapeutic compounds locally and on demand, enabling precise, auto-renewed, and sustained treatment of the affected tissue.

Practical application: In its first application, ISOS-ELM is being developed as an implantable therapeutic bioreactor for wet Age-related Macular Degeneration. The product aims to replace or reduce repeated intraocular anti-VEGF injections by providing a single, personalized implant capable of producing anti-VEGF or other therapeutic molecules directly in the eye, only when required by the pathological environment. This approach could improve treatment adherence, enhance therapeutic response, reduce side effects, and offer a more precise and sustained therapy for patients with chronic retinal diseases.