LONDON PRESS SERVICE INFORMS
Developing Robotic Stem Cell Research
A biotechnology company in the United Kingdom that develops drugs to
regenerate body tissues has secured a technology programme grant worth 1.1 million pounds.
The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) grant will support a
three-year collaborative research and development project called ‘A technology to ensure
optimum cell performance for regenerative medicine’.
The company, Plasticell Limited, is the lead partner in a consortium
that includes University College London (UCL) and the National Institute for Biological
Standards & Control. The company will own the rights to all intellectual property and
products issuing from the project.
The purpose of the project is to automate Plasticell’s Combinatorial
Cell Culture technology using process automation from UCL’s stem cell bioprocessing unit
and advanced imaging methods from the National Institute for Biological Standards &
Control (NIBSC), the site of the UK Stem Cell Bank.
Combinatorial Cell Culture is a proprietary platform technology used to
test large numbers of variables in series for their ability to direct the differentiation
of stem cells into clinically useful cell types – so far a bottleneck in the field.
Automation of the process is expected to increase further the number of experiments that
can be performed simultaneously and to facilitate adoption of the technology by the life
sciences industry.
Commenting on the development, Dr. Yen Choo, Plasticell’s chief
executive, said: “I am very pleased our consortium has secured this highly competitive
funding from the DTI [and] which allows Plasticell to progress Combinatorial Cell Culture
in collaboration with world-class partners at UCL and the NIBSC.”
The Minister for Science & Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, said: “The
UK is an acknowledged leader in this field and we want to ensure that the UK remains at
the forefront of stem cell research. That’s why we are supporting the Plasticell
consortium on this project which provides a great opportunity to harness the UK’s
world-class expertise and use it to boost our economy and, potentially, our health.
More research hands: UK biotechnology company Plasticell has secured a
grant of 1.1 million pounds from the Department of Trade & Industry.
“Stem cell research has tremendous potential to tackle some of the
most devastating diseases. It could benefit patients with conditions such as Parkinson’s
disease, juvenile diabetes and heart disease.”
Sir Aaron Klug, a Nobel laureate and a senior adviser to the company,
added: “This technology offers a powerful key to the goal of developing pathways for the
controlled differentiation of stem cells. This is absolutely required in order to realise
the potential of regenerative medicine. The DTI grant is not only a milestone for
Plasticell but also for the UK’s effort in the field.”
Plasticell is a privately held, London-based biotechnology company
using innovative, high-throughput stem cell technologies and novel drug-discovery
platforms to dissect the mechanisms leading to differentiation of stem cells, the master
cells responsible for tissue development and repair. Plasticell’s research focus is to
discover regenerative, small molecule drugs.
The company also forms industry alliances by partnering its
Combinatorial Cell Culture technology for high-throughput stem cell differentiation, to
derive cell lines and reagents for research and therapy applications.
The announcement coincided with the recent first meeting of the
UK/Medicon Valley (a Danish/Swedish biotechnology cluster) collaboration that will focus
on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Academics and biotech companies are to
hold workshops and visit London, Edinburgh and Cambridge.
Plasticell will automate its research product, CombiCult, using
industry-standard robotic equipment housed in sterile enclosures where tissue culture can
take place. This will increase productivity by enabling experiments to run 24/7 in a
contaminant-free environment. In addition, Plasticell will license the technique and allow
the wider research community to benefit from this important technology.
The programme is investing directly in new and emerging technologies
and has been designed to help businesses work collaboratively with each other or with
academic partners to develop technologies that will underpin products and services of the
future.
By Ray Cooling
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