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Wellcome Trust, MRC kick off $20 million iPS initiative
11-08-2012
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LONDON—The Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council
(MRC) have announced the beginning of a £12.75 million (approximately $20.4
million) initiative to create a collection
of high-quality adult stem cells,
specifically induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The undertaking will provide
a knowledge base for the use of iPS
cells in the study of the effects genes
have on health and disease, in addition to being a first step toward the
development of a new iPS cell bank.
The project, known as the Human Induced
Pluripotent Stem Cell Initiative, will generate iPS cells from healthy
volunteers and patient groups, and will
be led by King's College London and the
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
"The Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Initiative
brings together world-leading expertise in clinical genetics, stem cell biology
and
genomic technologies. We believe that this research will drive forward the
translation of basic research into improved diagnosis and treatment of
disease," Prof. Fiona Watt of King's College London said in a press release.
"At King's, we also hope this will enable us to open a 'Stem Cell
Hotel',
providing a platform for collaborative experiments between clinician scientists
with in-depth knowledge of specific diseases and cell
biologists who have the
tools to obtain quantitative readouts of cell behavior."
iPS are
generated from taking regular adult cells and
reprogramming them into stem cells, essentially undoing the differentiation
that all stem cells undergo.
Reverting them to stem cells allows them to once
again have the potential to differentiate into a variety of different cell
types. The cell collection
that will result from this initiative will be the
most comprehensive resource of its kind in the United Kingdom for investigating
the effects of
genetic variation on cell behavior and diseases.
"The Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell
Initiative
will be an important resource that will help researchers around the world
understand the links between genetic variation, cell behavior and
disease, and
speed up the translation of this research into improved diagnosis and treatment
of disease," said Sir Mark Walport, director of the
Wellcome Trust.
"The field of induced pluripotent stem cell research was made possible
thanks to the seminal discoveries of Sir John Gurdon and Shinya
Yamanaka, who
were last month awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for their
work. This is a field in which the U.K. remains at the
cutting-edge. Our
investment in this new initiative should further strengthen the U.K.'s position
and lead to patient benefit."
Investigators from the Sanger Institute will endeavor to
generate more than 1,000 iPS cell lines, from both healthy
subjects and those
with diseases. The project will also include collaborations with other research
bodies such as the University of Cambridge, University of Dundee, European
Bioinformatics Institute and University College London.
"Induced pluripotent stem cells hold enormous potential
to help us understand and treat human disease,
but currently the application of
iPS cell technology is limited by gaps in our knowledge regarding their
biological properties and how we can best
manipulate them to accurately model
human disease," said Prof. Sir John Savill, chief executive of the MRC. "By
investing in a U.K.-wide initiative
in iPS cell technology, we hope to propel
UK researchers to the forefront of this rapidly evolving field and provide an
invaluable stock of high-
quality cell lines for use by academia and industry
alike."
SOURCE: Wellcome Trust press release Code: E11071201 Back |
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