STEMCELL Technologies Signs Exclusive License Agreement with Cincinnati Children’s for Stem Cell-Derived Organoid Technology
VANCOUVER, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–STEMCELL
Technologies Inc. has signed an exclusive license agreement with Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital Medical Center to commercialize its fundamental
technology for generating gastrointestinal organoids from pluripotent
stem cells (PSCs). This agreement grants STEMCELL a license to novel
methods for generating organoid models and to develop cell culture media
and tools that would enable scientists to create organoids from PSCs in
their own laboratories.
Organoids are three-dimensional structures, or small clusters of cells
representing ‘mini-organs’, which are grown in a dish. Organoids more
closely mimic the complex structure and physiology of whole organs than
standard two-dimensional cell culture models. Generating organoids from
PSCs allows for an inexhaustible source of tissue, and opens this field
to researchers who may not have access to primary tissues from patient
biopsies or other sources.
The technology licensed from Cincinnati Children’s describes methods for
generating gastrointestinal organoids, including intestinal and stomach,
from human PSCs. These discoveries were developed in the laboratory of Dr.
James Wells, Director
of the Pluripotent Stem Cell Center at Cincinnati Children’s, and
are further described in a series of Nature publications (J.R.
Spence et al. 2011 and K.W.
McCracken et al. 2014).
Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Wells said, “There is a tremendous
opportunity to use these new organoid models for advancing studies in
human development, as well as for applying them in many powerful
applications such as disease modeling, drug screening, and for
developing therapeutics. I am pleased to partner with STEMCELL given
their outstanding reputation for bringing quality research tools to the
market.”
STEMCELL has previously announced key partnerships with pioneering
leaders in the organoid research field. Recently, the company signed an
exclusive license with the
Hubrecht Organoid Technology Foundation (The HUB) for patented
tissue-derived organoid technology generated from the laboratory of Dr.
Hans Clevers. Additionally, STEMCELL has exclusively partnered with the Institute
of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
to develop cerebral organoids, or ‘mini-brains’, as described by Drs.
Jürgen Knoblich and Madeline Lancaster.
Dr. Allen Eaves, President and CEO of STEMCELL, commented that “This
license with Cincinnati Children’s will enable STEMCELL Technologies to
further expand upon our growing portfolio of products supporting
organoid studies, including the recently released IntestiCult™
Organoid Growth Medium. STEMCELL Technologies is pleased to be the
leading organoid company. We are developing world-class organoid
expertise, which we will leverage to deliver important, cutting edge
research tools to the scientific community.”
About STEMCELL Technologies
As Scientists Helping Scientists, STEMCELL Technologies Inc. is
committed to providing high-quality cell culture media, cell isolation
products and accessory reagents for life science research. Driven by
science and a passion for quality, STEMCELL provides over 2500 products
to more than 90 countries worldwide. STEMCELL’s specialty cell culture
reagents, instruments and tools are designed to support science along
the basic to translational research continuum. To learn more, visit http://www.stemcell.com.
Contacts
STEMCELL Technologies Inc.
Luba Metlitskaia, 604-484-2854
Vice
President, Business Development & Licensing
luba.metlitskaia@stemcell.com
or
Cincinnati
Children’s Hospital
Mike Pistone, 513-803-8020
Director,
Business Development & Marketing
michael.pistone@cchmc.org
