Allele Biotechnology Initiates Project On Scaled Manufacturing Of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells And Differentiation With Chinese Academics

Allele Biotechnology has signed an agreement with Jinan University to develop culturing systems of stem cells and differentiation methods for producing skin tissue cells for wound treatment and stem cell therapy.

San Diego, California (I-Newswire) January 16, 2013 – Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a San Diego based company with a focus on new technology development, announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Biomedical Institute of Jinan University through a focus group to develop culturing systems of stem cells and differentiation methods for producing skin tissue cells for wound treatment. The joint team will also evaluate using stem cell therapy as potential treatment for arthritis, Lupus, and other autoimmune-related diseases.

Scientists from Allele Biotechnology recently described an important advance in the generation of stem cells capable of producing all the different tissues of the human body. Using messenger RNA molecules and without the need of viral vectors, animal products or feeder cells, this new method can be used to reprogram human fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). The efficiency is significantly improved over previously reported reprogramming results and the time required to complete reprogramming is slashed in half under optimal conditions.

The Biomedical Institute at Jinan University, a leading comprehensive research university in South China, has focused on translational research in the areas of epidemic diseases and autoimmune diseases. It has broad collaboration with partners and close connections to the biotech industry in China. It was known to have launched (licensed) a number of new biologics in China, and contributed to the understanding and diagnostics of the SARS epidemic in 2003. The institute has also been entitled as the national engineering research center of biopharmaceutics since 2005.

This collaboration will last for at least 2 years, and will go beyond the R&D stage with selected candidates moving into clinical trials, first in China, then in other countries. If the project reaches clinical trials it will be funded jointly by industry and academic partners in the range of $10 million USD.

Tags: arthritis, autoimmune disease, clinical trials, iPSC, Lupus, pluripotent stem cells