Innovation Profile: Stem Cell Research in the Toronto Region
It all began in the early 1960s when Toronto researchers Drs James Till and Ernest McCulloch dazzled the world with their discovery of stem cells. Today, there are about 100 principal investigators here and the region is widely known for the calibre and breadth of its stem cell research, partnerships and investment. Read about stem cell research in the Toronto Region.
View video clips of:
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Dr Mick Bhatia |
Dr Janet Rossant Chief of Research The Hospital for Sick Children |
Building on Success: World-Centre for Stem Cell Discovery
It all began in the early 1960s when Toronto researchers Drs James Till and Ernest McCulloch dazzled the world with their discovery of stem cells. Today, there are about 100 principal investigators here and the region is widely known for the calibre and breadth of its stem cell research, partnerships and investment.
| Why Stem Cells | Why Toronto Region | Why Now | Who's Here | What's Available |
Perhaps because of its long association with stem cell science, Toronto Region has seen significant levels of investment in infrastructure to support studies in this area.
"There's a real richness in the number of the research institutes, the interconnected foci in stem cell research, and the number of stem cell researchers across the Toronto Region," says McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute Director Dr Mick Bhatia.
Exceptional technology and resources abound at centres such as: the Centre for Modeling Human Disease; the Ontario Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Facility; the McMaster
Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute Normal and Cancer Cell Reprogramming Facility; and a new facility at the McEwen Centre that includes a production suite for differentiated
cell types. State-of-the art labs at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research are home to
an instrument, believed to be the first of its kind anywhere, than can perform proteomic analysis on a single cell.
Strategic initiatives bring substantial funding to the region. Notably, the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium, established in 2007, has an initial investment of more than $100 million from its Canadian partners -- including $30 million from the Ontario government. The consortium will allow the biomedical community to move quickly and effectively from discoveries to application in the clinic and to launch partnerships among organizations within Canada.
The wide variety of Canadian funding sources includes several levels of government, not-for-profit organizations and local philanthropists. At the federal level, there is the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Genome Canada, Stem Cell Network, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Industry Canada, among others. Provincially, the list includes the Ministry of Innovation and Research, Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund, Ontario Genomics Institute and Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
View Toronto Region Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Fact Sheet.
© 2010 Toronto Region Research Alliance