Liver cirrhosis or fibrosis is the ultimate pathological feature of all forms of chronic hepatic damage and is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide. The principal cell type responsible for liver fibrosis is the hepatic stellate cells - storage cells for vitamin A, which when activated produces collagen. The collagen specific chaperone, heat shock protein 47 (HSP47) has been implicated in the translational regulation of procollagen synthesis. The specific association of HSP47 with a diverse range of collagen types makes it an ideal candidate for targeting hepatic stellate cell mediated collagen secretion. Prof. Niitsu and team at the Sapporo Medical University, Sapporo, Japan have developed a treatment for liver cirrhosis using siRNA against the mRNA encoding HSP47 and delivering it specifically to the stellate cells using liposomes conjugated with vitamin A. The specific targeting of stellate cells achieved by coupling of vitamin A to the liposome carriers together with specificity of the siRNA against HSP47 has resulted in reversal of cirrhosis and liver regeneration. more info...

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NDT offers a unique solution to in vivo siRNA delivery by designing novel biodegradable delivery vehicles with the combined ability to target specific cells and efficiently deliver the therapeutic moiety to the target cells. Our research over the past several years has resulted in unique delivery vehicles that can be customized to meet the needs of specific drugs and cell types. The panel of in vivo delivery vehicles includes lipids, lipopolymers and nano materials. more info...

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The fundamental challenges in cancer chemotherapy are associated with the inherently high toxicity of anticancer drugs to healthy cells and drug resistance by the cancer cells. In addition, most of the anti cancer drugs being developed suffer from limited water solubility. At NDT, we are focused on the development of cancer drug therapy based on targeted delivery of therapeutic doses of the drug at the site of action, without harming the healthy cells. This is achieved using proprietary polymer-drug nanoparticles designed to overcome the shortcomings of other polymer based drugs in areas such as physical properties, degradation rate and drug release profile. more info...

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Using state-of-the-art polymer synthesis capabilities, NDT has developed NittoPhaseTOSTM solid supports for therapeutic oligonucleotide synthesis. The unique properties of our specially formulated cross-linked polystyrene support afford high quality oligos at greater yields, significantly reducing the cost and improving the quality of both small and large scale oligonucleotide synthesis. more info...

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1. Biodegradable Transfection Reagents
• Reagents for efficiently transfecting plasmid DNA to common mammalian cell lines with low cytotoxicity as the components of the reagent are biodegradable under physiological condition.
2. Transfectable Cell Culture Devices - CarriGene® Plates
• Culture device with transfection properties for efficiently delivering plasmid DNA into common mammalian cell lines. This technology can dramatically reduce the assay time and is suitable for high throughput gene screening. more info...

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