Use the back button to return to your initial selection.

HOME |  THE NETWORKS |  SCN

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Being innovative is one thing. Bringing innovation out of the laboratory and into the marketplace to solve problems is another. That takes partners.

As a member of the Networks of Centres of Excellence, the Stem Cell Network (SCN) exists to transform innovative research into economic benefit. While advancing knowledge is vitally important, transforming those academic advances into real-world applications often requires outside help.

In 2004-2005, SCN was very successful in building partnerships between researchers and industry.

"The SCN was a catalyst for me to start thinking about partnerships," says Dr. Timothy Kieffer, an SCN investigator and associate professor at the University of British Columbia who has shown that stem cells in the gut have the potential to become the pancreatic, insulin-producing beta cells that diabetics lack.

Dr. Kieffer recently received an SCN catalyst grant to do more research on gut cells. His SCN money will be matched dollar for dollar by Lifescan, Inc. of Milpitas, CA., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It will allow him to go further, faster in this important work.

"I've become increasingly aware that for a product to come out of academic research it is critical, if not mandatory, to develop a partnership," says Dr. Kieffer. "An academic institution is never going to have the resources to do clinical trials, which can cost millions and millions of dollars. At some point a product is going to have to pass from academia to the pharmaceutical industry. Having a potential partner already interested in that line of investigation is a promising step."

What's at stake is a potential therapy to relieve diabetics of having to inject insulin for their entire lives. That's why partnerships are so important, says Dr. Kieffer.

"We know diabetics are waiting patiently for us to come up with something better. The more resources we can bring to bear on the problem, the quicker we can get there. Having Lifescan involved in this effort means we've got someone interested who has a big knowledge base and a lot of resources to bring to bear on this problem and help us achieve our goal sooner."

Dr. Leo Behie, SCN investigator and professor at the University of Calgary, sees partnering with private industry as a way to save taxpayers huge amounts of money and ease the financial strain on Canadian health care.

"The idea that stem cells are going to lead to solutions for major diseases that have no cure – it's not hype. It's coming," says Dr. Behie. "Diseases like Parkinson's and Type 1 Diabetes, these cost our health-care system billions of dollars. So, the financial implications are enormous. Companies have to get involved because professors do not make good company people and good corporate decisions."

Dr. Behie is an early adapter of the partnership principle, having established business relationships between his lab and StemCell Technologies of Vancouver and Invitrogen Life Technologies. "I'm not in it for the money. I'm a professor and I have a Canada Research Chair in biomedical engineering, so my life is research. These are commercial companies, not philanthropic institutions, and the bottom line is they have to make money. We're helping them make money and, at the same time, do good in terms of addressing terrible diseases."

From the industry point of view, collaboration with SCN creates opportunities.

"It was at a Stem Cell Network annual general meeting where we found out about Dr. Behie's technology," says Eric Atkinson, Manager of Marketing and Corporate Development for StemCell Technologies. "There is so much expertise here in Canada, we need to be forming partnerships and collaborations with the best people in the various areas to expand our own knowledge and expertise. The future looks good. The area of stem cell biology and research is totally exploding, which is going to make the relationships we have developed through the Stem Cell Network even more important."

Dr. David Lillicrap, an SCN investigator at Queen's University, has a relationship with Bayer Canada Inc. that goes back to before the network was even established. It was, the SCN, however, that helped him strengthen that bond as he and a team of investigators and colleagues such as Dr. Jacques Galipeau of McGill University move closer to a stem cell-based approach for gene therapy of hemophilia.

"The involvement of the SCN and the other investigators, and the interaction with Bayer has been absolutely critically to us being able to move this project ahead and hopefully look at the potential of getting into the clinic within the next four to six years."

Dr. Bernard Chiasson, Director of Scientific Development, Biological Products at Bayer HealthCare, Canada, says his company is proud to be associated with such interesting research.

"Bayer recognizes and supports that novel strategies for hemophilia treatment must continue to undergo development," says Dr. Chiasson. "Through the Canadian Bayer/Canadian Blood Services/Héma-Québec Partnership Fund and the International Bayer Hemophilia Awards Competition we have had the opportunity to formally review the studies that are proposed by Dr. Lillicrap and Dr. Galipeau. Suffice it to say that the proposed work by these two clinicians represents cutting-edge science for the development of new therapeutic options for the hemophilia community."

www.stemcellnetwork.ca