Federal and Foundation Support for Research

 

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation awarded Stemnion a two-year grant from the foundation's Industry Discovery and Development Partnership Program. The grant is to support the research Stemnion is conducting to determine if amnion-derived cells can differentiate into insulin-producing cells.

 

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Partners with Stemnion
Research Looks to Create Insulin-Producing Cells
from Amnion-Derived Cells

 

New York, NY, February 14, 2006--The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation announced today that it is partnering with Stemnion LLC, the Pittsburgh-based biomedical research firm, in an innovative adult stem cell project. Through the Foundation's expanding Industry Discovery and Development Partnership Program, JDRF is awarding a two-year grant to Stemnion to investigate the ability of stem cells found on the inner membrane of the amnion to differentiate into insulin- secreting cells that might be transplanted into patients with type 1, or juvenile, diabetes.

Stemnion has developed a protocol to cultivate these amnion-derived cells to express a protein essential to the development of pancreatic cells. JDRF will fund Stemnion to explore the ability of these cells to further differentiate into insulin-producing cells. JDRF, the world's leading charitable funder of research into a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications, funds some $100 million of science annually. The IDDP Program aims to promote for-profit interest in JDRF's mission by fostering long-term collaborations with industry in order to drive type 1 diabetes research through discovery and development, and toward commercialization.

"JDRF is very excited to be working with Stemnion and is hopeful that this partnership will lead to the development of a novel approach to creating insulin-producing cells that can be used to cure type 1 diabetes," said Dr. Richard Insel, JDRF Executive Vice President of Research. "This research also has the potential to provide insights into pathways used by beta cells during their regeneration, an important therapeutic focus for JDRF."

Islet cell transplantation and beta cell regeneration are cure therapeutic areas that JDRF funds, with an objective of accelerating the development of drugs, treatments, and therapies leading to a cure. During the past several years, the use of islet cell transplantation has proved successful in addressing the short-term complication of hypoglycemic unawareness in patients with type 1 diabetes. But the application of islet transplantation is severely limited by the availability of donor pancreata: while as many as 3 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, fewer than 2,000 pancreata are available for transplantation annually. Stem cells derived from the inner membrane of the amnionÑwhich is normally discarded after the birth of a babyÑcould provide an abundant source of much needed islet cells. Endogenous regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells is one of the fastest growing areas of diabetes research.

"JDRF's Industry Discovery and Development Partnership program is aligned with our scientific priorities and our urgency towards advancements in research," said George Sing, CEO of Stemnion. "We have found this program to be industry friendly, providing assistance for small, maturing companies in a number of ways."

"The progress Stemnion has made in adult stem cell research and the implications this carries for people with diabetes, make this partnership a logical and exciting next step for our organizations," he added.