273: Engineering iPSC Neurons for Parkinson's: From 3% Survival to Durable Graft with Bilal Fares - Part 1

Transplant iPSC-derived neurons into a Parkinson's brain and 97% die before they can restore function. Of the 3% that survive, most face the same pathogenic environment that killed the original neurons. This is the compounded biology and CMC problem defining CNS cell therapy today.

Bilal Fares, neuroscience entrepreneur and co-founder of AzureCell, is translating a University of Geneva discovery into a genetically engineered iPSC platform built to solve it: neurons that don't just replace what Parkinson's destroyed, but survive the fire that destroyed them.

Topics discussed:

• Why Bilal believes cell therapy is the future of medicine for brain diseases, and the limitations of other approaches (03:06)
• Bilal’s personal story and the events that guided his commitment to Parkinson’s research and entrepreneurship (04:03)
• How cell therapy might move beyond simply replacing lost neurons—using engineered cells to produce therapeutics directly in the brain (09:05)
• The neuroprotective technology AzureCell is developing, designed to shield transplanted neurons from Parkinson’s disease mechanisms (11:31)
• The platform approach: combining stem cell technologies, genetic engineering, and allogeneic off-the-shelf cell banks (12:38)
• Why the blood-brain barrier makes cell therapy a necessary approach for certain conditions (13:26)
• The current status of Azure’s preclinical and manufacturing development, and their plans for clinical translation (14:31)
• Why previous therapies for Parkinson’s have fallen short, and how cell therapy might sidestep these limitations (15:57)
• The potential and challenges of using cell therapy for other brain diseases like Alzheimer’s (18:26)

Smart insight: The next generation of CNS cell therapy isn't only about neuron replacement. Bilal's thesis reframes transplanted cells as engineered biological factories inside the brain: producing neuroprotective proteins, modulating disease mechanisms in real time, and eventually enabling preventative treatment as manufacturing costs fall and safety matures.

If you enjoyed this, check out these episodes on cell therapy, where engineered cells can survive and do more than replace what's lost: Michael Rome's investor lens rounds it out for founders facing the same funding realities.

• Episodes 269 - 270: How to Turn Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Programmable Cancer Delivery Vehicles with Jun Yung Woo
• Episodes 253 - 254: How to Source, Manufacture, and Scale the Earliest Stem Cells for Allogeneic Cell Therapy Without Ethical Barriers with Yuta Lee
• Episodes 249 - 250: How T Cell Activation Redefines TIL and CAR-T Manufacturing (Boosting Success Rates to 95%) with Chantale Bernatchez
• Episodes 259 - 260: Why Strong Science Isn't Enough to Get Funded: What Investors Actually Look For with Michael Rome

Connect with Bilal Fares:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/b-fares
AzureCell website: www.azurecell.co
Email: info@azurecell.co

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