Stem cell-based regenerative medicine has great potential to advance the therapeutic treatment of human diseases. Among the various stem cell platforms, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent one of the most promising options. Currently, there are over 500 clinical trials based on MSCs registered at the NIH’s ClinicalTrials.gov website. Although successful expansion of MSCs in vitro has been well-established, higher-yield, billion-cell expansion of MSCs remains a bottleneck. In this study, we successfully demonstrated large-scale culture of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSCs) in an industrial, single-use vessel at 3.75 L scale.
Tag: <span>stem cells</span>
The recent discovery of cancer stem cells in leukemia, brain cancer, and breast cancer has had a significant impact on cancer research and how cancers are thought to arise. Their discovery has resulted in unique, but pressing challenges that may ultimately only be resolved through the development of large-scale bioprocesses. The scarcity of these cells is currently impeding discovery of new cancer treatments that specifically aim to eradicate the population of tumour cells thought to be responsible for tumour growth and metastasis. Fundamental bioprocessing principles have been applied to develop scalable, large-scale cultures for cancer stem cells, to address this issue of cancer stem cell scarcity. Development of such bioprocesses differs significantly from other, more conventional cultures since it is the cells themselves that are of interest rather than the products of the cells (e.g., proteins)…
Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, along with injuries such as stroke affect millions of individuals worldwide and costs healthcare systems billions of dollars each year in North America alone. The diseases result from the death of specific cell types within the central nervous system. Current treatment efforts have focused primarily on alleviating symptoms using pharmaceuticals. However, recent advances in our understanding of these conditions, coupled with advances in biology, genomics, transplantation, and biochemical engineering are making cell therapy (the transplantation of viable cells to replace dead cells) more attractive as a potential avenue of treatment…