University of Toronto stem cell researchers were recently awarded a grant worth an unprecedented $114 million that is aimed at helping them translate their promising research discoveries into more effective therapies for patients in Canada and worldwide. It is one of five projects that will receive funding under the inaugural Canada First Research Excellence Fund program competition, which was launched by the federal government in 2014.
The initiative, which is led by McEwen Centre Researcher Dr. Peter Zandstra and titled Medicine by Design, has strengths in multiple disciplines and draws from research institutions, businesses and organizations across Canada, including the University Health Network’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research and the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine. The grant’s three research pillars aim to create: safer and more effective stem cell-based therapies; complex tissues for research, drug discovery and replacement of damaged tissues; and organs that can be successfully transplanted into human patients.
Dr. Zandstra explains, “Stem cells offer avenues to treat–and perhaps cure–devastating and costly illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blindness, lung disease, neurodegenerative disorders, and diseases of the blood and musculoskeletal system. Medicine by Design provides a framework to design the cells, the materials and, ultimately, the clinical strategy needed to reach this goal.”