February 6th, 2012
Cellartis to be partner in TissueGen, a major multinational stem cell project funded by the European Comission
FEBRUARY 6, 2012, Gothenburg, Sweden
Currently regenerative medicine therapies are developed in vitro using a range of methodologies to generate, expand and maintain stem cell lines. Subsequently the lead stem cell therapy candidates are taken directly into animal studies. This effectively means that in contrast to the drug development sector there is very little in vitro work conducted to assess lead therapies with respect to their efficacy and safety in human tissues.
The key objective of the TissueGEN project is the production of a novel in vitro three dimensional (3D) human disease tissue platform.This to provide therapy developers with a system for the cost effective validation of potential regenerative medicine strategies.
The concept will be realised by the in vitro generation of human 3D tissues derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC). Initially a library of adult cells will be collected from healthy donors, as well as from patients with genetic diseases. Novel 3D tissue culture technologies will be developed and used in the differentiation and maturation process to produce liver cells. These cells will be integrated within bioreactors operating in a perfusion environment producing the human 3D hepatic tissue cultures. The use of hiPSC enables the production of human hepatic tissues from donors with a genetically diverse background, specified in relation to clinical trial requirements. This gives the regenerative medicine developers the attractive option of generating liver cells with a genetically relevant background so that inter-individual variation can be assessed and quantified.
About Cellectis stem cells: Cellectis stem cells speeds up the development of stem cell technology in particular to find a robust and reproducible way of controlling stem cell production and differentiation. Through the sharing of knowledge and expertise developed by the the two companies forming Cellectis stem cells - Cellartis and Ectycell – Cellectis stem cells becomes a major, long-term and stable industrial player in the global marketplace.
Cellartis AB is a premier provider of stem cell derived products and technologies which will drive unprecedented innovations in drug discovery and regenerative medicine today and in the future. For more information, visit www.cellartis.com.
About Cellectis : Cellectis improves life by applying its genome engineering expertise to a broad range of applications, including human therapeutics, biological research and agriculture. Cellectis is listed on the NYSE-Euronext Paris Alternext market (code: ALCLS). To find out more, visit www.cellectis.com.