Busines partners
From the outset of this program on Stem Cells in Development and Disease, our research activities will be linked into development activities with PamGene BV, Minos Biosystems and Embryonic Stem Cells International.
PamGene BV is active the field of rapid transcriptional ,proteome and antibody profiling. They have developed a rapid screening technology that can be tailored to specific screening needs. This will be particularly important in testing the completeness of differentiation protocols for ES cells as well as other the purity of other stem cell preparations. Such arrays can also be used for screening molecules active in signalling pathways. Our research ourcomes using dedicated arrays may become clinically useful and result in a commercialization.
Minos Biosystems is active in the generation of portable mouse mutant libraries (subject of a small IP in FW6, using diabetis as the example) that will serve as an extremely valuable resource in our program. Indeed, in an ongoing collaboration with one of our consortium partners (Grosveld, ErasmusMC), this efficient means of generating and maintaining large banks of interesting develomental mutants represents an advantage that will increase our capacity to discover novel molecules, cascades and interacting molecules important in development, stem cells and disease. These developmental mutants will be rapidly screened by the consortium through a novel technology (3D optical microscopy) being developed in a collaboration with Grosveld and others in FW6 initiative. These libraries and mice will be available to the consortium through our collaboration with Minos Biosystems. These mouse models will provide in vivo validation of relevant signaling pathways and will be marketed by Minos Biosystems. Further advances in the transposition mediated insertional mutagenesis method are expected and these libraries will be made available immediately to the consortium members for rapid screening procedures and use in these studies. Mino Biosystems will promote the commercialization of such further advances from our consortium.
Embryonic Stem Cells International is an important collaborator in this program, providing support in the Mummery laboratory (Hubrecht) for the controlled self-renewal and differentiation of mouse and human ES cells. The long-term interest of ESI is to development efficient methods for the genetic manipulation of ES cells for therapeutic purposes; this includes molecular and cellular based therapies. The combination of studies on signaling pathways and epigenetic regulation of gene expression offer an exceptional entry into molecular intervention strategies for the controlled growth of human ES cells. It is anticipated that the involvement of ESI with the consortium will be productive and rapidly increase as we obtain information on the converging signaling pathways in ES cells. ESI will play an important role in the commercialization of such findings.
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