The Jiangsu Government's
Science and Technology Department has announced a $1.8 million grant - the
Jiangsu Technological Achievements Transformational Grant - to support the
research and development of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell
(hUC-MSC) technologies. The grant recipient and administrator, Shenzhen Beike
Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (http://www.beikebiotech.com ), is working with
Jiangsu University and Nanjing University's Drum Tower Hospital to fulfill the
grant's requirements.
This grant marks the start of the second stage of Beike's stem cell
engineering industrialization project. The project's first phase began in May
2008, when Beike opened a 1,800 square-meter stem cell bank in Taizhou's China
Medical City district. In the second phase, the bank will be used as a library
for storing and indexing hUC-MSC samples. In April 2009, Beike broke ground on
its 20,000 square-meter Stem Cell Regenerative Medicine Industrial Complex,
the world's largest stem cell storage and processing facility. Beike will use
a portion of the Jiangsu Technological Achievements Transformational Grant to
outfit this complex with over 80 specialized pieces of equipment including
fully automated enzyme immunoassay analysis systems, carbon dioxide incubators,
and cell viability analyzers.
The grant's three-year objectives are to systematically develop hUC-MSC
technology and its medical application from "bench-to-bedside" - from
harvesting, to laboratory modeling, through clinical trials, and finally
clinical applications in treating Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), Multiple
Sclerosis (MS) and other degenerative diseases. In support of this effort,
Beike will provide the facilities, equipment, management framework and certain
proprietary clinical stem cell technologies for the project. Nanjing
University Medical School's renowned Drum Tower Hospital will be responsible
for administering the human trials while Jiangsu University will bring its
vast biological research and development resources to the production and
animal study phases of the project.
Dr. Sean Hu, CEO and Chairman of Beike Biotechnology, commented on the
collaboration saying, "As Asia's leader in stem cell technology and its
applications, Beike is proud to partner with two of Jiangsu's top medical
universities - both already established as leaders in stem cell technology and
application. I am confident that with continued support from both Jiangsu
Province and China's government, this collaboration will continue to produce
groundbreaking work in the field of stem cells."