The safe manufacture of potentially life-saving stem cells
through innovative automation and machine learning, could give
patients faster access to stem cell treatments in the future.
Today, experts and UKSCB alumni are meeting for a special event
at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s
South Mimms Laboratories to celebrate two decades of supporting
innovation in research and in the clinic, and to look to the
future of advanced therapeutics.
Human embryonic stem cells have the potential to help parts of
the human body repair and regenerate following illness and
disease. They could have applications in a vast range of diseases
such as blindness, blood cancer and heart disease.
With support from national partners at the Medical Research
Council (MRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research
Council (BBSRC) and National Institute for Health Research
(NIHR), the UKSCB provides high quality stem cells for
world-leading research, with 30 stem cell lines available for
clinical application. This makes the UKSCB the largest source of
clinical grade human embryonic stem cells in the world.
Globally, the UKSCB has supplied stem cells to 25 different
countries for research and clinical applications, with 54% of the
stem cell lines requested in 2022 being of clinical grade, which
has risen year on year.
Dr Lee Carpenter, Head of the UK Stem Cell Bank,
said:
“Stem cell treatments are difficult to manufacture because it’s
labour intensive and expensive, making their availability to help
patients limited.
“As we celebrate 20 years of the UK Stem Cell Bank, we look to
automation to alleviate the manual aspects of laboratory working
with stem cells and to scale up manufacturing, without
compromising on our safety and quality standards.
“This ultimately means patients could get faster access to more
cost-effective, safer stem cell therapies to treat or prevent
their condition or disease.”
Dr Marc Bailey, MHRA Chief Science and Innovation
Officer, said:
“This isn’t the stuff of science fiction. Our unique asset at the
MHRA, the UKSCB, means we will continue to be at the forefront of
the latest scientific developments so that we can help bring safe
and effective treatments to the people who need them most.
“At a time where medicines to slow or stop degenerative diseases,
such as Parkinson’s disease, are becoming a reality, our work is
helping research go even further, curating and supplying the
foundation of cell-based therapeutics, which have the potential
to treat, and one day, even cure these diseases.
“The UKSCB’s future is diverse and exciting and, much like the
cells we curate, there are endless possibilities for us to
support research and clinical advances in the UK and around the
world.”
Twenty years ago, the MHRA’s UKSCB was established to curate and
distribute all human embryonic stem cells created in the UK.
Over the past two decades, the UKSCB has become renowned for
being at the centre of advanced therapeutics - medicines for
human use based on genes, tissues, or cells - in the UK, as well
as globally.
It is recognised around the world as a leading repository, with
over 180 different human embryonic stem cell lines used for
research and development, with many of these that could be used
for treating patients.
The UKSCB has recently completed a trial using a robot that grows
stem cells to see whether they meet the standards needed for use
in the manufacture of potentially life-saving treatments compared
with our highly skilled experts.
The CellQualia Intelligent Cell Processing System at the
MHRA South Mimms Laboratories was, at the time, the only one in
the world outside of Japan, where it was developed. This was a
successful trial that demonstrated automation of stem cell
production is possible, and now other automation systems are
being considered in future studies comparing automation and
manual production.
Notes to Editors
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The UKSCB is the UK’s repository for the storage and
regulation of stem cells. Further information about the UKSCB
can be found here.
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A stem cell line is a population of cells that all descend
from a single donor and are grown in a lab. Under appropriate
conditions, cells in a stem cell line keep growing but don’t
differentiate into specialised cells. Ideally, they remain
free of genetic defects and continue to expand, which can be
frozen for storage or shared with other researchers.
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Stem cell derived therapies, also known as regenerative
medicine, promotes the repair of diseased, dysfunctional or
injured tissue by providing specialised cells that can be
derived from stem cells i.e. neurons, cardiac and immune
cells.
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
(MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and
medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are
acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust
and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify
any risks.
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