November 6, 2025 — Research Triangle Park, NC & Cambridge, UK — Xona Microfluidics, Inc. (“Xona”) and Healx Limited (“Healx”) are pleased to announce a joint presentation at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting on Saturday afternoon, November 15, 2025, highlighting a new approach to testing regenerative therapeutics in human neurons using next-generation microfluidic technology.
The study, titled “Testing regenerative potential of therapeutics in human neurons using small footprint compartmentalized testing beds,” demonstrates how advanced microfluidic compartmentalized chips can be used to model axon injury and regeneration in human iPSC-derived neurons—helping to accelerate discovery of therapies that promote neural repair.
The collaboration between Xona and Healx centers on developing human-relevant, high-content models that reduce reliance on animal testing, aligning with the FDA’s recent guidance to adopt more predictive in vitro systems.
The research team employed Xona’s newly designed “X4” microfluidic chip containing four small-footprint testing beds. This design enables parallel testing of compounds while using fewer neurons per assay and reducing imaging time.
Using eGFP-expressing human iPSC-derived glutamatergic neurons, the study evaluated regenerative responses following axotomy and treatment with compounds known for their regenerative potential, including Blebbistatin, and the MAP4K4 inhibitor, PF-06260933. Quantitative analysis revealed:
- >8-fold neurite regrowth with Blebbistatin compared to vehicle control
- >16-fold neurite regrowth with PF-06260933 compared to vehicle control
“This work underscores the power of microfluidic compartmentalized models to generate human-relevant data quickly and efficiently,” said Dr. Anne Marion Taylor, Chief Scientific Officer at Xona. “By integrating our platform with Healx’s expertise in therapeutic discovery, we’re advancing tools that can better predict regenerative potential in human neurons.”
Dr. Wayne Chadwick, Scientific Associate Director at Healx, added, “This project highlights how combining innovative technologies with data-driven drug discovery can help identify new treatments for patients with neurological conditions.”
The results validate the use of Xona’s small-footprint microfluidic testing beds as a scalable and efficient system for screening regenerative compounds in human neuronal models—representing a significant step toward more rapid, ethical, and translational neurotherapeutic discovery.
Presentation Details:
- Session: Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
- Date: Saturday afternoon, November 15, 2025
- Location: San Diego, CA
- Authors: Tharkika Nagendran¹, Wayne Chadwick², Phil Brownjohn², and Anne Marion Taylor¹
- ¹Xona Microfluidics, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
- ²Healx Limited, Cambridge, UK
- Session Number: LBP014
- Presentation Number: LBP014.18
- Session Title: D.04. Brain Injury and Trauma
For more information about this work or to connect with the research team during SfN, please contact:
info@xona.com | media@healx.io
ABOUT XONA
Xona Microfluidics is a US company that makes compartmentalized microfluidic chambers for culturing neurons, and creates co-culture and innervation models in vitro. Xona’s technology is also used to model multi-cellular environments for organ-on-a-chip or microphysiological system applications.
Our patented compartmentalized chip technology directs the growth of axons from a somatodendritic compartment to an isolated axonal compartment allowing distinct microenvironments within each compartment to be established. Xona sells compartmentalized microfluidic chambers in two formats: Preassembled XonaChips® and original Silicone (PDMS) Devices. Over 1,000 publications cite our compartmentalized microfluidic devices and chips. Many of these publications can be found on our publications page.
Xona provides contract services in addition to product sales.
CONTACT US
To learn more about products and contract services provided by Xona, please contact us at info@xona.us.
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