Edinburgh Law School instrumental in globalisation of stem cell research
Wed 23 March 2016
Academics at Edinburgh Law School are at the centre of a European project to facilitate global access to biomaterials and data in the field of induced pluripotent stem cell research.
Dr Carol George, with the support of Dr Shawn Harmon and Prof Graeme Laurie has, since 2014, been working on the establishment of the European Bank for induced pluripotent Stem Cells (EBiSC), which today announced the public launch of its online catalogue. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines, from a wide range of disease and patient cohorts, are now available from EBiSC for worldwide use by academic and commercial researchers in disease modelling, drug development and other pre-clinical research. iPS reprogramming technology enables the generation of pluripotent cells, which can differentiate into all types of human tissue, from ordinary adult cells such as skin or blood.
Dr George works with Timothy Allsopp (Pfizer Ltd) and Aidan Courtney (Roslin Cells Ltd), who together coordinate and manage the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded EBiSC project. The EBiSC consortium is a public-private partnership comprising 27 organisations including members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and academic institutions. Carol has played a key role in the development of the EBiSC policies, contracts and consent materials that constitute governance frameworks for the centralised EBiSC operations, which make quality-controlled iPSC lines and data widely available to members of the global iPSC research community.
Dr George works with Timothy Allsopp (Pfizer Ltd) and Aidan Courtney (Roslin Cells Ltd), who together coordinate and manage the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded EBiSC project. The EBiSC consortium is a public-private partnership comprising 27 organisations including members of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and academic institutions. Carol has played a key role in the development of the EBiSC policies, contracts and consent materials that constitute governance frameworks for the centralised EBiSC operations, which make quality-controlled iPSC lines and data widely available to members of the global iPSC research community.
Increased accessibility to a diverse collection of iPSC lines enables researchers to cultivate specific types of human tissue from relevant disease populations under laboratory conditions. This enhances the study of disease processes and development of treatments which can be tailored to human tissue that might not otherwise have been available prior to the clinical testing stage. Another promise of iPSC technology is ‘personalised’ or ‘stratified’ medicine, in which therapies may be targeted not only to specific diseases such as Huntingdon’s and Alzheimer's, and particular tissue types such as heart or brain, but also to individual patients.
Edinburgh Law School hosts the IAB.
Edinburgh Law School is also delighted to be hosting the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) 13th World Congress in June this year. Colleagues from the Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law, lead by Congress chair Professor Graeme Laurie, have been at the heart of organising the event. The Congress will bring together the largest gathering of thought-leaders on bioethics in the world to openly question medical, scientific and life science advances on the theme of “Individuals, Public Interests and Public Goods: What is the Contribution of Bioethics?”.
The deadline for early bird registration is 31st March so to register or for further information about the 13th IAB World Congress please visit their website.
The deadline for early bird registration is 31st March so to register or for further information about the 13th IAB World Congress please visit their website.