Four research teams at UHN have collectively received $1.65 million in funding from the Stem Cell Network (SCN) to advance regenerative medicine therapies. This funding is part of a record-breaking $28.4 million that SCN has invested to support stem cell and regenerative medical research and clinical trials across 24 projects and 14 disease areas.
The four UHN-led projects outlined below explore innovative stem-cell treatments for arthritis, cancer, spinal cord injury and liver disease.
Congratulations to all the researchers involved in these and other SCN-funded projects. See below for details about these awards and the research that they will enable.
Dr. Kristin Hope
Impact Award | support for proof-of-principle experiments necessary to develop regenerative medicine therapies
Project title: Harnessing developmentally guided post-transcriptional HSC drivers to advance in vivo hematopoietic regeneration.
Research enabled: Dr. Hope’s research will clarify the processes that regulate the replication of blood stem cells early in development to replenish adult stem cells following blood system-damaging treatments and conditions such as chemotherapy and infection.
Clinical Trial Award | support for early-stage clinical trial trials with high translational potential
Project title: Autologous Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate or Lipoaspirate Concentrate for OsteoArthritis: ABLE OA Clinical Trial.
Research enabled: Dr. Viswanathan’s clinical trial will assess the effectiveness of a novel cell-derived therapy for reducing pain and inflammation in knee osteoarthritis. This research will advance the development of non-surgical treatment for osteoarthritis and clarify its mechanisms of action.
Dr. Michael Fehlings
Fueling Biotechnology Partnerships Award | support for academic projects partnerships with emerging Canadian regenerative medicine biotechnology companies to commercialize regenerative medicine technologies and therapies
Project title: Translation of cGMP grade oligodenrogenic NPCs (oNPCs) for the treatment of traumatic cervical spinal cord injury.
Research enabled: In collaboration with the Canadian regenerative medicine company Inteligex Inc., Dr. Fehlings will develop a stem cell-based therapy to repair damaged spinal cords.
Dr. Shinichiro Ogawa
Impact Award | support for proof-of-principle experiments necessary for novel regenerative medicine therapies
Project title: Sustained liver engraftment with bioengineered functionally complete liver tissues.
Research enabled: Dr. Ogawa’s research focuses on using stem cells to develop fully functional liver tissue for transplantation in individuals with liver diseases. This engineered tissue can also be used to improve studies of metabolism and drug toxicity.
To see all the funded projects and for additional information, visit the Stem Cell Network’s competition results page.