The discovery of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. iPS cells, adult cells that have been reprogrammed to a stem-cell like state, offer enormous promise for cell therapies and personalized medicine. But there are still many hurdles to overcome before iPS cell therapies become ubiquitous.
Professor Peter Zandstra, Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering and Director of the recently launched Medicine by Design program at the University of Toronto, is focused on getting adequate cell numbers to make therapies feasible.
“We’re very interested in trying to understand what the conditions are by which we can generate billions and billions of cells in the hopes that the cells will be useful for cell therapies,” explains Zandstra.
And he’s already had success. ExcellThera, a company based around technology from the Zandstra lab, generates large numbers of blood stem cells. Their cells are currently undergoing a clinical trial for the treatment of leukemia. For other applications, such as in patients with heart disease or diabetes, it may be necessary to replace the entire damaged organ. These types of therapies are a little bit further away – perhaps 10 or 20 years.
Zandstra believes that cells are the “drug of the future” and an effort that Canada has the capacity to lead.
