UK leads race to produce world’s first clinical grade stem cells

The University of Sheffield has received a £2.6m grant to create some of the world’s first embryonic stem cell lines that can be used for medicinal purposes.

The announcement will be made at a public debate about stem cell research at the University of Sheffield, on 17 March 2005. The new Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Laboratory will allow researchers to derive embryonic stem cell lines that are extremely high quality and can be licensed to be used for therapeutic purposes. Currently none of the world’s stem cell lines comply with GMP.

The University already has a strong record for deriving stem cell lines and has deposited three embryonic stem cell lines into the UK stem cell bank, that are suitable for research use. The GMP laboratory has been funded by the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the medical Research Council and Yorkshire Forward.

Professor Harry Moore, Co-Director of the Centre for Stem Cell Biology at the University of Sheffield explains, "This new laboratory will allow us to develop high quality embryonic stem cell lines that will mean the UK remains a world leader in this exciting new scientific field".

"GMP grade stem cell lines will be the first step in treating conditions such as diabetes or Parkinson’s disease."