UBC Scientists Receive Funding for Stem Cell Research

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UBC scientists receive new funding for stem cell and regenerative medicine research

UBC Faculty of Medicine scientists have been awarded more than $1.8 million from the Stem Cell Network (SCN) for leading seven projects advancing stem cell and regenerative medicine.

Three projects involving Faculty of Medicine researchers as co-investigators and collaborators were also awarded a combined $1.03 million.

SCN announced a total of $33.5 million in funding for 36 projects and clinical trials across the country that will drive ground-breaking research across 14 disease areas, including Type 1 diabetes, retinal degeneration, Parkinson’s disease and more, using the transformative potential of stem cells.

The new funding supports researchers at UBC and across Canada to push the boundaries of what’s possible in health care and to develop therapies designed not just to manage symptoms, but to stop or even reverse the course of disease.

“Regenerative medicine is Canada’s science,” said Cate Murray, President and CEO, Stem Cell Network. “With this latest investment, we’re supporting innovative research projects and clinical trials across Canada that are creating high-quality jobs, strengthening our health economy and accelerating the development of new therapies for patients. Today’s announcement is a testament to the impact Canadian science continues to have right here at home.”

Faculty of Medicine-led Projects

Early Career Researcher Jump Start Awards

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Nika Shakiba (School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Co-Investigator: Dr. Carl de Boer (School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Expanding the quality control toolbox: a machine-learning approach to detecting genetically aberrant pluripotent stem cells

Fueling Biotechnology Partnership Awards

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Timothy Kieffer (Cellular & Physiological Sciences/Surgery)

  • Vascularized, Stem Cell-Derived Islet Organoids for the Treatment of Type 1 Diabetes

Impact Awards

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Fabio Rossi (Medical Genetics/School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Engineering hPS derived myogenic progenitors to deliver anti-fibrotic molecules

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Kelly McNagny (School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Co-Investigators: Dr. Peter Zandstra (Medical Genetics/School of Biomedical Engineering), Dr. Calvin Roskelley (Cellular & Physiological Sciences/School of Biomedical Engineering), Dr. Laura Evgin (Medical Genetics)

  • Harnessing Stem Cell-Derived Tissue-Resident Innate Lymphoid Cells to Target and Eliminate Solid Tumors

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Megan Levings (School of Biomedical Engineering/Surgery)

  • Co-Investigators: Dr. Bruce Verchere (Pathology and Laboratory Medicine/Surgery), Dr. Francis Lynn (Cellular & Physiological Sciences/School of Biomedical Engineering/Surgery), Dr. Peter Zandstra (Medical Genetics/School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Leveraging stem cells to create an engineered model of type 1 diabetes

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Nika Shakiba (School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Bioreactor bottlenecks: selection for aberrant cells in pluripotent stem cell expansion

• Lead Investigator: Dr. Peter Zandstra (Medical Genetics/School of Biomedical Engineering)

  • Automating Systems Biology and Machine Learning for Multiscale Regulatory Network Discovery in Stem Cell Differentiation 

See all awardees on the Stem Cell Network website.

Contact

Communications

UBC Faculty of Medicine

Email: communications.med@ubc.ca

Office: 604.822.2421