Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2020-2021)

Emerging cellular therapies have the potential to both greatly improve the health of individualsx000D
and to reduce healthcare costs by curing diseases. For example, it has been established thatx000D
a cellular transplant therapy can reverse and potentially cure type 1 diabetes. However, therex000D
are far too few cadaveric donors available relative to the many thousands of Canadians whox000D
could benefit from this therapy. Generating pancreatic islets (insulin-generating cells) fromx000D
cultured stem cells is an exciting development that could provide an essentially unlimitedx000D
supply for transplantation into diabetic patients. It has already been demonstrated that thesex000D
cells can reverse diabetes in animal models, and a human clinical trial is currently underway.x000D
However, several challenges must be overcome to make this cure for diabetes a reality.x000D
Among them, improving the complex processes used to produce these cells is paramount.x000D
For example, we need technologies capable of non-invasively (and without contact)x000D
monitoring of the cultures so that the cells produced remain safe and effective. Our group hasx000D
shown that novel spectroscopic techniques can gather critical information using light scatteredx000D
by the cultured cells, tracking the critical developmental changes taking place as stem cellsx000D
become pancreatic cells. This project will advance this non-invasive technology so that it canx000D
be used to assess and control the quality of stem cell-derived therapeutic cells destined forx000D
transplantation. This will contribute to the development and approval of safe and efficaciousx000D
therapies with the potential of curing thousands of Canadians. While the first application willx000D
target diabetes, our technology could also be applied to many other cell therapies that targetx000D
diseases such as cancer and heart disease cellular therapy.