Stem Cell Institute PIs and affiliates have been awarded funding from MRC-AMED joint call for collaborations between academics in the UK and Japan in the field of regenerative medicine and stem cell research.
Many congratulations to PIs Dr Cédric Ghevaert, Dr Simon Mendez-Ferrer and Professor Ben Simons and affiliate PI Professor Alfonso Martinez-Arias who have been awarded funding from The MRC and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development for the UK-Japan Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research Initiative which was announced by the MRC last week (17th September). A total of 8 projects were awarded with half of the awards led by CSCI and affiliate PIs. Former CSCI PI Dr David Kent, now at the University of York, has also received funding for a project and will be collaborating with Professor Bertie Göttgens.
The teams will be working on projects across a range of areas with collaborators from institutes across Japan.
Dr Cédric Ghevaert will be working with Koji Eto from Kyoto University developing research in making platelets in the lab for use in blood transfusions in the clinic aiming to optimise the process and increase the clinical efficiency of lab developed platelets.
Dr Simon Mendez-Ferrer will be collaborating with Hitoshi Takizawa from Kumamoto University and with Dr Elisa Laurenti at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute on a project focussing on the process of bone marrow regeneration following blood stem cell transplantation.
Professor Ben Simons will be working with Shosei Yoshida from the National Institute for Basic Biology on a project investigating ways of increasing transplantation efficiency by harnessing the flexibility of spermatogonial stem cells.
Affiliate PI Professor Alfonso Martinez Arias will work with Cantas Alev from Kyoto University on the project “3D Human Axial Development In Vitro: using novel human in vitro somitogenesis models to study birth defects with patient-relevant iPS cell lines”.
Professor Bertie Göttgens will be collaborating with former CSCI PI Dr David Kent, working with Satoshi Yamazaki from The University of Tokyo investigating “Human blood stem cell expansion: Empowering new technology for stem cell medicine”.