From The GlobeandMail.com
The effort to make the University of Toronto and its partner hospitals a global centre for regenerative medicine has received a significant boost from the federal government in the form of a $114-million research grant – the largest in the university’s history.
The grant, announced on Tuesday by Ed Holder, Minister of State for Science and Technology, will be directed toward a newly created research program led by the U of T called Medicine by Design. It will focus on engineering cells, tissues and organs for a range of medical applications, from drug discovery to transplants.
The interdisciplinary program will bring together biologists, engineers and mathematicians to leverage recent advances in stem cell technology.
Stem cells, first discovered by Toronto researchers in 1960, are cells that can be programmed to become any type of cell in the body, a crucial requirement for organ and tissue regeneration.
“We anticipate discovering and developing new therapeutic options,” said Peter Zandstra, Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Engineering and one of the program’s architects. “This is a unique opportunity to bring together groups of researchers to solve next generation problems.”
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