News

The Research Councils that sponsor the UK National Stem Cell Network (UKNSCN) have announced their intention to cease funding its activities from 31 December 2011.

Due to the fact that the main argument of the decision by the European Court of Justice in prohibiting patents based on inventions with hES cells, is the protection of human dignity, several members of the European parliament call for implications also in research funding.

The Stem Cell Network (SCN), Canada’s key means of pursuing excellence and global leadership in applied stem cell research, has been awarded its final tranche of funding, worth $19.2M through March 2015. The announcement was made today by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Secretariat, following a review of the Stem Cell Network’s progress and strategic plan.

The latest UKNSCN Patents Digest [.PDF] covers the period 1 July 2011-31 August 2011 and provides a breakdown of both published and granted patents during this period in three areas: adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells and iPS cells/de-differentiation. In addition, the Digest publishes the search strategy used to generate this digest. This is available as an Annex to the report. This report is 76 pages long and contains brief bibliographic information on hundreds of patents designed to enable you to pick out relevant patents and conduct your own further study on the relevant database using the patent number.

The International Consortium of Stem Cell Networks' (ICSCN) Workshop Towards Clinical Trials Using Stem Cells for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)/Motor Neuron Disease (MND) was held in January 2011. Twenty scientific talks addressed aspects of cell derivation and characterization; preclinical research and phased clinical trials involving stem cells; latest developments in induced pluripotent (iPS) cell technology; and industry involvement and investment. A full report on the workshop is now available for download on the ALS Association's web site.

The latest UKNSCN Patents Digest [.PDF] covers the period 1 March - 30 April 2011 and provides a breakdown of both published and granted patents during this period in three areas: adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells and iPS cells/de-differentiation. In addition, the Digest publishes the search strategy used to generate this digest. This is available as an Annex to the report. This report is 63 pages long and contains brief bibliographic information on 230 patents designed to enable you to pick out relevant patents and conduct your own further study on the relevant database using the patent number.

A consortium of Australia’s leading universities and research organisations headed by the University of Melbourne and led by Professor Martin Pera, have been announced as recipients of funding totalling $21 million from the Australian Research Council’s Special Research Initiative in Stem Cell Science. The group, currently known as Stem Cells Australia will commence operations on 1July 2011 following the completion of the Australian Stem Cell Centre’s funding on 30 June 2011. Read more on the Australian Stem Cell Centre’s website here.

With the addition of three new collaborations, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine now has nine partners to advance stem cell research. In a separate announcement, CIRM awarded USD$250 million in its Disease Team grants competittion.

The ICSCN held a series of meetings in Barcelona in July to coincide with the annual ISSCR meeting. Conducted over two sessions, the meetings included planning events and a Post-Doc Symposium.

Scottish Regenerative Medicine received a multi-million funding boost in April 2009, providing a major endorsement of our efforts to find new treatments for degenerative diseases.

This year’s meeting of the International Consortium of Stem Cell Networks will take place on July 8 and 9 at the Hotel Diagonal Zero in Barcelona.

Its mission is to provide a searchable, comprehensive database that includes published and validated unpublished information on all human ES cell lines as well as other pluripotent stem cell lines.

The UK National SCN has embarked upon a pilot project to provide the community with regular (two-monthly) digests of both published and granted patents in the stem cell field.