UK grants enable US stem cell research

Awards totalling £3.6 million will be given by the UK Stem Cell Foundation, with funding from the Medical Research Council and Scottish Enterprise, to follow on from work started in 2006, reports the Earth Times.

The UK continues to demonstrate international leadership in supporting development of embryonic stem cell technology

David Greenwood

Vice president and chief financial officer

Geron

The grants will be used to fund preclinical safety and efficacy studies of three therapeutic cell types developed to help treat liver failure and bone disorders such as osteoporosis, fractures and osteoarthritis.

David Greenwood, Geron's executive vice president and chief financial officer, revealed that the UK's innovation in stem cell research help to attract the Californian firm to projects here.

"The UK continues to demonstrate international leadership in supporting development of embryonic stem cell technology," he told the website.

"Because of the receptiveness in the UK, we have major collaborations in place at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Birmingham and Oxford," Mr Greenwood continued.

Professor Sir John Savill, head of College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, also commented that the funding and collaboration will allow new treatments to be developed for serious illnesses.

The projects are being undertaken by the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, which aims to find new treatments for debilitating diseases.

Work at the centre builds on that done by the Institute of Stem Cell Research, also based at the University of Edinburgh, which looks to discover regenerative therapies to treat human disease and injury.