September 17, 2026 - Stem Pharm, a neuroinflammation-focused drug discovery company, is excited to announce that it has been awarded a $2.5 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance Alzheimer’s disease drug discovery. The two-year award, from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging (NIA), will support the use of Stem Pharm’s human iPSC-derived neuroimmune organoid platform to identify and advance potential therapeutics targeting neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative mechanisms associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Read More

August 3, 2026 - New paper highlights application of Stem Pharm neuroimmune organoids in modeling early glioblastoma establishment.

This work demonstrates how Stem Pharm’s human neuroimmune organoid platform can recreate important features of the early glioblastoma microenvironment, including tumor cell invasion, interactions with resident microglia and infiltrating macrophages, and the emergence of inflammatory and immunosuppressive signaling. From a drug development perspective, the work highlights the potential to use a reproducible, multicellular human model to: study the earliest stages of glioblastoma establishment and invasion, evaluate how immune cells influence tumor phenotype and progression, screen therapies designed to inhibit infiltration, tumor stemness, or immunosuppressive signaling, and support more patient-relevant and potentially personalized therapeutic development. Link to paper

July 14, 2026 - New paper highlights application of Stem Pharm neuroimmune organoids in modeling Alzheimer’s disease neuroinflammation and application to drug discovery

Our new publication describes a human neuroimmune organoid model that recreates key features of early Alzheimer's disease—including neuroinflammation, microglial lipid accumulation, neurodegeneration, and clinically relevant AD biomarkers—in a reproducible, stimulus-based system suitable for drug discovery. We also demonstrate that the model can identify compounds capable of reducing inflammatory and neurodegenerative responses, highlighting its potential for therapeutic screening. Link to paper

May 8, 2026 - New paper with UW-Madison collaborators highlights application of Stem Pharm neuroimmune organoids in modeling diffuse midline glioma (DMG)

Patient-derived DMG cells were integrated into Stem Pharm’s neuroimmune organoids, interacted with the neural cells in the organoid, and generated spatial transcriptomic and proteomic signatures that strongly reflected patient tumor biology. The model also enabled cell-type-specific toxicity testing across tumor cells and non-malignant neural cells, an important capability that traditional tumor-only monocultures cannot provide. Link to paper

March 23, 2026 - Stem Pharm partner InMed Pharmaceuticals press release.

InMed Pharmaceuticals announces positive data from human brain organoid neuroinflammation models supporting their INM-901 Alzheimer’s disease program. These studies used models developed from Stem Pharm’s human 3D neuro-immune organoid platform, adding human-relevant translational data to the growing body of evidence supporting INM-901. Read here

February 3, 2026 - Stem Pharm receives ICP award from Forward BIOLABS

Stem Pharm has been selected as a Round 1 awardee of the Innovation to Commercialization Pipeline (ICP) Program, launched by Forward BIOLABS in partnership with BioForward Wisconsin. Read here

November 1, 2025 - Stem Pharm to present two posters at Neuroscience 2025

Stem Pharm is presenting two posters at the Society of Neuroscience Annual Meeting that will feature our latest results in developing organoid models of Alzheimer’s disease inflammation and DAMP-mediated neuroinflammation.

August 8, 2025 - Paper published in Current Research in Toxicology

We’re excited to share our new peer reviewed research article “Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia to Assess Neuroinflammation and Toxicities Induced by Known Developmental Neurotoxins”, published today in Current Research in Toxicology. This paper highlights how Stem Pharm’s human neural organoid platform—enhanced with microglia—can be used to model and evaluate neuroinflammatory-driven toxicities, especially in the context of developmental neurotoxicity. We applied cytokine profiling, biomarker readouts, and transcriptomic analysis to demonstrate cell- and time-specific effects of known toxins, including a detailed look at lead-induced neuroinflammation and the role of microglia in mediating toxicity. Read here

June 27, 2025 - Steve Visuri, CEO, featured in Open Record podcast

As a follow-up to the recent FOX6 News Milwaukee feature, Steve Visuri, CEO, sat down with the Open Record podcast, hosted by FOX6 reporters, to dive deeper into the topics raised in the news piece. They talked about Stem Pharm’s human neural organoid platform, its application to Stem Pharm’s Alzheimer’s drug discovery program, and how this research supports the growing movement to reduce animal testing in drug development. Listen here

June 18, 2025 - Stem Pharm featured in FOX6 News Milwaukee, spotlighting our cutting-edge work in human neuro-immune organoids

The news piece spotlighted Stem Pharm’s cutting-edge work in human neuro-immune organoids and Alzheimer’s drug discovery. Watch the full feature here

April 2, 2025 - Connie Lebakken, COO, to present at the 19th annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium

Connie Lebakken, Stem Pharm COO, will present on Stem Pharm’s neural organoid platform and application to neuroinflammation-focused disease modeling and drug discovery, to be followed by a panel discussion regarding how to build a successful stem cell-based technology startup.

November 7, 2024 - Stem Pharm featured at Chicago BioCapital Summit

Stem Pharm will be featured in the Hall Inventions at the Chicago BioCapital Summit, a showcase of cutting-edge Midwest biotech innovation. Learn more

October 5, 2024 - Stem Pharm to present three posters at Neuroscience 2024

Stem Pharm is presenting three posters at the Society of Neuroscience Annual Meeting that will cover our latest results on application of our neural organoid platform to study neuroinflammation, as well as our SureCoat technology for advanced MEA analysis.

September 24, 2024 - Stem Pharm awarded NIH SBIR grant to advance temporal lobe epilepsy neuroinflammation research

Stem Pharm, a neuroinflammation-focused drug discovery company, is excited to announce that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance drug discovery related to temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The Phase I grant, from the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), will support the development of an innovative stem cell derived 3D neural organoid to accurately model the role of microglia and neuroinflammation in TLE, ultimately paving the way for discovery of novel drug candidates. Read more

September 12, 2024 - Stem Pharm presenting at LSX World Congress USA 2024 company showcase

Stem Pharm is attending the LSX World Congress USA 2024 conference in Boston 9/12-9/13.  Steve Visuri, CEO, will present at the company showcase on Thursday, September 12 at 12:15 pm EDT, and will participate in the partnering event.

August 26, 2024 - Meet Stem Pharm’s team and learn about our backstory, courtesy of StartUp Health

Read more

June 10, 2024 - Stem Pharm to present at the MPS World Summit

Stem Pharm co-founder Dr. Bill Murphy will participate in the round table “Synthetic hydrogels to enhance MPS and organoid function” on Tuesday 6/11. Stem Pharm will present a poster “A Model of Human Neuroinflammation utilizing Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia” on Thursday 6/13.

June 3, 2024 - Stem Pharm to attend BIO 2024 in San Diego, CA

Stem Pharm will be participating in the BIO 2024 One-on-One Partnering event.

May 22, 2024 - Stem Pharm among first companies to join StartUp Health Alzheimer's Moonshot

Stem Pharm has been selected for StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot, a collaborative innovation community supported by Gates Ventures and Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). Read more

May 10, 2024 - Stem Pharm selected for NIH I-Corps program

Stem Pharm will participate in the NIH I-Corps program’s spring 2024 cohort, related to the Company's SBIR Grant to Develop Therapeutics Targeting Alzheimer's disease Neuroinflammation. Learn more about the NIH I-Corps Program

March 19, 2024 - Stem Pharm to present neural organoid platform at Science Magazine webinar

Connie Lebakken, Stem Pharm’s co-founder and COO, will provide an overview of Stem Pharm’s neural organoid platform and application to drug discovery as part of a Science Magazine webinar on 3D cell culture technologies and organoids on March 20th at 12 PM EDT. Register here

October 10, 2023 - Stem Pharm and Verge Genomics form collaboration focused on Parkinson’s disease

Stem Pharm, Inc., a drug discovery platform company leveraging 3D neuro-immune organoids and Verge Genomics, a biotechnology company transforming drug discovery using artificial intelligence (AI) and patient tissue data, announced a collaboration to develop a disease model to validate novel targets identified by Verge for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Read more

September 21, 2023 - Stem Pharm awarded NIH SBIR grant to advance Alzheimer’s Disease neuroinflammation research

Stem Pharm, a pioneering neurologic drug discovery company, is excited to announce that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance a groundbreaking model of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) for drug discovery. The grant, from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging, will support the development of an innovative stem cell derived 3D neuro-immune organoid to study the role of microglia and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease, ultimately paving the way for novel drug discovery applications. Read more

August 10, 2023 - Stem Pharm awarded STTR grant from National Cancer Institute for advanced glioblastoma research

Stem Pharm, a pioneering biotechnology company, is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to advance cutting-edge research in glioblastoma, a devastating form of brain cancer. The grant will support the development of innovative neural organoid models to study the immunological microenvironment of glioblastoma, ultimately paving the way for novel drug discovery applications. The collaborative effort will be undertaken in partnership with Dr. Mahua Dey, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and Director of Surgical Oncology, and Dr. Christian Capitini, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Read more

Missed us at ISSCR 2023? Stem Pharm presented two posters:

#700 - “Assessment of microglial activity in an induced pluripotent stem-cell derived neural organoid on synthetic hydrogels to study neuroinflammation”

#701 - “Chemically defined substrates in a ready-to-use format that promote adhesion, neurite extension and long-term cultures for multiple induced pluripotent-derived neural subtypes”

Click here for access to posters

Missed us at SLAS 2023? Stem Pharm presented two posters:

#1245-B - “Chemically Defined Substrates in a Ready-To-Use Format That Promote Adhesion, Neurite Extension and Long-Term Cultures for Multiple iPSC-Derived Neural Subtypes for Screening Applications”

#1319-D - “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia for Interrogation of Neural Inflammation”

Click here for access to posters

December 20, 2022 - Stem Pharm joins Merck Digital Sciences Studio accelerator program to drive innovations in neurological drug discovery

Stem Pharm, Inc. announced today that the company has joined the first biopharmaceutical cohort of Merck Digital Sciences Studio (MDSS). MDSS is a collaboration between Merck, Microsoft for Startups, and the New Jersey Innovation Institute, a New Jersey Institute of Technology subsidiary, with direct investments from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Northpond Ventures, and McKesson Ventures. This 10-month startup accelerator program is designed to enable the generation of innovative technologies for drug discovery and development. Cohort companies will have opportunities to pilot novel life sciences technologies in collaboration with discovery and clinical scientists at Merck. Read more

Missed us at Neuroscience 2022? Stem Pharm presented two posters:

#701.08 - "Modeling Neuroinflammation induced by Amyloid Beta Oligomers in Cultured Human iPSC-Derived Neural Organoids on Synthetic Hydrogels"

#442.04 - “Modeling neuroinflammation with iPSC-derived microglia cultured on synthetic hydrogels”

Click here for access to posters

October 13, 2022 - Stem Pharm receives 2022 Wisconsin Innovation Award

Stem Pharm has been named the 2022 Wisconsin Innovation Award Recipient! Nine winners were honored from the 30 finalists and more than 300 nominees during the 2022 Wisconsin Innovation Awards at the Memorial Union in Madison. The ceremony recognized the state’s most innovative products and services from eight industry categories. The 2022 winners were selected by a panel of 19 statewide experts with backgrounds in business sectors such as technology, food, healthcare, agriculture, nonprofits, education and government. Read more

July 2022 - Stem Pharm attended the 20th annual ISSCR meeting

Stem Pharm had the honor of attending and presenting two posters at the 20th annual ISSCR meeting in San Francisco, CA. This meeting gave Stem Pharm great opportunities to network within the stem cell community and present research regarding the Stem Pharm Neural Organoid platform and synthetic substrate research. Stem Pharm presented the following posters:

• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia for Interrogation of Neural Inflammation

• Chemically defined substrates in a ready to use format that promote differentiation, accelerated maturation and neurite extension of multiple neuronal subtypes for screening applications

Read more

July 18, 2022 - Stem Pharm announced as 2022 Wisconsin Innovation Award finalist

Thirty companies have been selected as finalists for the 2022 Wisconsin Innovation Awards. In total, more than 300 business, products, and services from around the state were nominated. The finalists were determined by a panel of 19 statewide industry experts, with winners to be announced at the annual awards ceremony on October 12, 2022. Nominations spanned across the state of Wisconsin, representing startups, organizations, and established businesses of all sizes and industries. Read more

June 2022 - Stem Pharm participated in BIO, the world’s largest trade association representing biotechnology companies

The Bio International Convention is the premier partnering event for the industry and features more than 3,000 international and domestic companies attending and 100-plus panel sessions over four days. Topics include therapy targets, next-generation biotherapeutics, business development, patient advocacy, and public policy. One of the features of the convention is the extensive BIO One-on-One Partnering that allows you to find potential business partners and request meetings with senior biotech executives, business development leaders, and investors from premier firms.

• Stem Pharm’s participation:

  • Invited to join the NIH Innovation Zone as a featured company

  • Stem Pharm was spotlighted in an invited Company Presentation on Thursday June 16, delivered by CEO, Steven Visuri

  • Held numerous one-on-one meetings over 3 days of the conference with business prospects, potential collaborators and investors

Read more

June 2022 - Stem Pharm attended the MPS World Summit in New Orleans, LA

Check out the talk given by Stem Pharm:

• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia for Interrogation of Neural Inflammation

Stem Pharm presented the following posters:

• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia for Interrogation of Neural Toxicity

• Advanced synthetic biomaterials that enable microphysiological systems

February 2022 - Stem Pharm poster presentations at SLAS

Check out posters Stem Pharm presented at the 2022 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) Conference and Exhibition:

• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Incorporating Microglia for Interrogation of Neural Inflammation and Toxicity

• Chemically defined substrates in a ready to use format that promote differentiation, accelerated maturation and neurite extension of multiple neuronal subtypes for screening applications

Read more

January 26, 2022 - Stem Pharm welcomes newest advisor, Dr. Edsel Abud

Dr. Edsel Abud has joined Stem Pharm’s talented team of advisors. While attending University of California Irvine for his MD and PhD as part of the NIH's Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), Dr. Abud notably developed one of the first methods to generate human microglia from stem cells, showing their functional genomics and how they play a role in health and disease. Dr. Abud was also the first to demonstrate that human microglia can develop and engraft in mouse brains. Edsel is currently a KL2 Clinical Scholar at Scripps Translational Institute where he is completing his research track specialty in Allergy and Immunology and an internal medicine residency. His future work will focus on Siglec biology (e.g. CD33) and its regulation of myeloid cell compartments in health and disease.

January 10, 2022 - Dr. Ryan Gordon joins the Stem Pharm team as Sr. V.P. of Business Development

Dr. Ryan Gordon has joined the Stem Pharm team as Sr. V.P. of Business Development and Commercialization. Gordon brings to Stem Pharm over 20 years of business, R&D, and operational experience in developing and commercializing innovative biopharmaceutical technologies to revolutionize disease treatment and improve patient outcomes. He has been a valued leader at large companies (3M) and emerging startups (Rion, StemoniX, Rebiotix) where he made significant contributions to the pioneering development of regenerative exosome and microbiome therapeutics, 3D organoids for drug discovery, and novel drug delivery technologies. Notably, Dr. Gordon led business and market development at StemoniX, commercializing the first industrial-scale 3D human neural and cardiac organoids for drug discovery and preclinical development and launching the company’s contract services business. He has contributed to numerous patents and has co-authored research publications related to stem cell applications in drug discovery and preclinical development, microbiome therapeutics, and transdermal drug delivery. Dr. Gordon earned a Ph.D. and B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, respectively. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and completed a mini-MBA at the University of St. Thomas.

November 8, 2021 - Stem Pharm to present its advanced biomaterials and neural organoid technologies at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) 2021 meeting

Visit Stem Pharm's virtual posters at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting Nov 8-11 and learn about our organoids for assessing neural inflammation and toxicity (Poster 015.05 presented by Joshua Zimmermann) and our synthetic substrates for neuron differentiation and maturation (Poster 0170.01 presented by Will Richards). Read more

October 1, 2021 - Stem Pharm joins the Microphysiological Systems (MPS) Initiative of the North American 3Rs Collaborative (NA3RsC) working to refine, reduce, and replace animals in research

We’re proud to be part of the NA3RsC’s Microphysiological Systems (MPS) initiative, working to increase industry adoption and regulatory acceptance of MPS technologies with the goal of refining, reducing, and replacing research animals. Check us out in the listing of MPS technology providers. You'll find Stem Pharm under CNS, tumor, and vascular solutions. Read more

September 9, 2021 - Stem Pharm Senior Scientist Joshua Zimmermann gives a talk on biomaterials for 3D applications at SELECT BIO’s “Introduction to Implementing 3D Culture Models” webinar, sponsored by Promega

Through control of properties such as substrate mechanical stiffness and adhesion ligand presentation, materials can be designed that enable more physiologically relevant extracellular environments and better direct cellular behaviors within 3D models. At Stem Pharm, we are applying these principles to design PEG-based hydrogels for the development of in vitro neural models.

June 14, 2021 - Stem Pharm presents iPSC derived organoids at MPS World Summit

Stem Pharm recently had a poster presentation featured at the MPS World Summit entitled "Induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural organoids generated on synthetic hydrogels for interrogation of neural inflammation and toxicity." Read more

August 5, 2021 - Stem Pharm connects with Small Business Administration Administrator Guzman

Stem Pharm co-founder Connie Lebakken met with U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. and the Center for Technology Commercialization to share information about how SBA programs are boosting innovation in Wisconsin. SBIR funds have provided critical support to move Stem Pharm’s organoid and biomaterial technologies and our company forward. Read more

March 22, 2021 - Stem Pharm presented a poster at the Society of Toxicology’s 2021 annual meeting

Stem Pharm presented a poster entitled “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Organoids Generated on Synthetic Hydrogels for Interrogation of Neural Inflammation and Toxicity.”

March 17, 2021 - Stem Pharm awarded $1.7M NIH SBIR grant for better models of the brain

Stem Pharm has been awarded a $1.7 million SBIR grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to optimize its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived model of the central nervous system for drug discovery and toxicology applications. Stem Pharm’s model fills a commercial need to accurately reflect the complexity of cell types and important cell-to-cell interactions in the developing brain. It is the most comprehensive commercially available neural model and is particularly differentiated by the ability to study neuroinflammation, important for toxicology studies and implicated in devastating neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Stem Pharm’s neural model is expected to add tremendous value in neural toxicology screening and may help reduce the reliance on animal testing for the biopharmaceutical and industrial chemical industries.

March 8, 2021 - Stem Pharm co-founder Dr. William Murphy delivered webinar at A*Star Singapore

Dr. Murphy presented a webinar at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research entitled "Robust and Scalable Assembly of Human Organoids for Disease Modeling and Discovery."

August 12, 2020 - Stem Pharm awarded a $1.5M Phase II NIH SBIR grant from NINDS

Stem Pharm has been awarded a Phase II NIH SBIR grant (R44NS102088; PI: Dr. Lebakken) through the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke (NINDS) entitled: Synthetic hydrogels for biomanufacturing of iPSC-derived neural cells for precision medicine. This effort will use Stem Pharm’s hydrogel coatings for efficient differentiation and maturation of iPSC-derived neurons that can be used for modeling neurodevelopmental disorders and enabling new precision therapies.

October 21, 2019 - Illumina Accelerator turns five and backs five new startups

Stem Pharm, Inc. announced its selection for the 10th funding cycle of the highly competitive Illumina Accelerator. Illumina Accelerator provides extensive mentorship and access to sequencing systems, reagents, and lab space in the San Francisco Bay Area over a six-month period. This milestone is a major step for Stem Pharm on its mission to leverage its biomaterials and cell biology expertise in commercial applications of stem cell-derived human tissues and therapies. Stem Pharm plans to use next-generation sequencing resources at Illumina to validate the physiologic relevance and predictive capabilities of Stem Pharm’s cell and tissue models. Learn more

February 6, 2019 - Stem Pharm featured on Big Ten Network celebrating 20th anniversary of published paper

Stem Pharm is featured in a segment that appeared on the Big Ten Network celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of “Embryonic Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Blastocysts,” the seminal paper published in Science by James Thomson at UW-Madison. The video highlights our efforts to translate this important discovery to clinical use in therapeutics and drug development. Learn more