LUASANNE, SwitzerlandThe Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) signed an agreement with Cellular Dynamics, Inc. (CDI), granting Nestlé access to CDI's cell products for nutritional research.

NIHS will have access to CDI's iCell and MyCell offerings, which include cardiomyocytes, neurons, hepatocytes, and endothelial cells, with numerous other cell types in development, CDI said in a press release.

NIHS will use the cells to develop solutions for maintaining health and preventing disease. Specifically, the cell types will benefit areas of investigation like metabolic health, gastro-intestinal health and brain health.

Nestlé said the cells are derived from "cells reprogrammed from non-embryonic terminally differentiated cell type," which the company said avoids controversy surrounding stem cell research.  

NIHS and CDI worked together previously, and presented work at the International Society for Stem Cell Research at the 11th Annual Meeting and at the EASD Islet Study Group Annual Meeting.