human pluripotent stem cell registry - hPSCreg

Project Information

hPSCreg

Grant agreement ID: 101074135

DOI

10.3030/101074135

EC signature date 20 April 2022

Start date 1 May 2022

End date 30 April 2027

Funded under

• Health

Total cost

€ 1 499 317,50

EU contribution

€ 1 499 317,50

Coordinated by

FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - hPSCreg (human pluripotent stem cell registry - hPSCreg)

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Research with human embryonic stem cells (hESC) is controversial on ethical grounds. The EU adheres to the subsidiary principle and applies this for project funding. Nevertheless, a number of ethical requirements were formulated to allow for funding of hESC work. The human pluripotent stem cell registry (hPSCreg; https://hpscreg.eu) was initiated to provide an instrument for transparent monitoring of ESC research. In 2007, hPSCreg started to include hiPSC lines in the database. hPSCreg conducts assessment of the ethical provenance and scientific quality of each registered cell line. This forms the basis for a transparent validation and certification process to assess the ethical requirements for use in EU-funded research, and to ensure reproducibility of research. The strict, transparent and quality-driven approach has made hPSCreg a trustworthy resource for FAIR information associated with available hPSC lines. hPSCreg contributes to multiple EU-projects and provides its platform for data management to the European Bank for induced pluripotent Stem Cells (EBiSC; https://ebisc.org/). The main objectives are to (i) ensure the continuous operation of the Registry , (ii) to add additional content and functionalities, (iii) to maintain a curated and trustworthy validation and certification process.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. Maintaining the Registry and improving utility.
The hPSCreg platform maintained secure and robust operation, providing its services to the community and implementing new features for registering cell lines.
2. Broaden and improve content. Fact sheets were developed for various stakeholders in human pluripotent stem cell research are now online (https://hpscreg.eu/about/fact_sheet). Furthermore, ethics guidelines on organoid research from the EU-funded project HYBRIDA were made available on the hPSCreg platform (https://hpscreg.eu/about/organoids). All hPSCreg data categories increased at least 10% since the last reporting period 18 months ago: registered cell line names (10%), validated cell lines (20%), certificates issued (61%), clinical studies (45%) and projects (13%).
3. Efficient dissemination and communication.
More than 40 dissemination and communication activities were performed via news items on the hPSCreg website, social media posts and conference presentations. Networks of communication continued with numerous EU-projects and international stakeholder organizations, including CoreEUStem, Haplo-iPSC, HYBRIDA, EuroGCT, EBiSC, ISO, ISCA, ISSCR and ISCBI.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main task of the hPSCreg platform and database is to provide relevant information to the global community in a FAIR manner. Here, we improved the use of standard data formats and terms, implemented systematic ethics reviews in a transparent way and adapted international standards and best practice in stem cell research and data management. These efforts are amplified by peer-reviewed journals that require authors to register their cell lines as part of the review process. Furthermore, search and filter functions were improved to allow semantic searches, which is only possible because of the use of standards such as ontologies and taxonomies. Thus, hPSCreg is setting standards for state of the art in the field. To reach the state of the art at the technical level of the IT infrastructure and to ensure ongoing secure and safe operation of the hPSCreg platform, many components of the system need to be renewed.