Final Report Summary - STEMCAM (A IAPP on the Role of NCAM in Stem Cell Differentiation)
Overall, the results presented in this project may provide new insights into the pathways, molecules and differentiation events leading to a consistent percentage of cardiomyocytes and neuronal cells derived from mouse ESCs and iPSCs, as well as human iPSCs differentiation system. Although recently iPS and ES cell therapy have been proposed to cure different diseases affecting the nervous system or the heart, there is still a big debate about the safety and use of the pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medicine. The discovery and development of growth factor/cell adhesion molecule mimetic peptides enhancing tissue regeneration in the nervous system or in the heart might help develop new therapeutical strategy in e.g. cardiac infarct or in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson or other neurodegenerative diseases.
The project provided a training and transfer of knowledge program structured to efficiently exploit the expertise and complementarities between the industrial and academic partners to reach the scientific goals of the project and provide high quality intersectoral training for the participating researchers. The collaboration between the five entities (two of which being SMEs) was an opportunity for young researchers to expand their expertise and intersectoral network connectivity which has a high benefit for their individual career development. The STEMCAM project linked research and product development activities in two very relevant areas of stem cell research, neurogenesis and cardiomyogenesis and beyond the boundaries of the project, successfully collaborated with other IAPPs such as INDUSTEM and PARTNERS and with a large FP7 IP, ESNATS, complementing and expanding scope of the research and enhancing transfer of knowledge within the ERA. Thus STEMCAM significantly contributed to progress of stem cell research in Europe with high potential impact on European competitiveness and regenerative medicine.
Abbreviations:
BIO: BioTalentum Ltd; ENKAM: ENKAM Pharmaceuticals A/S; UNIGE: University of Geneva; UKK: University of Cologne; STEMCELL: StemCell Technologies Inc.
NCAM: Neuronal Cell Adhesion Molecule; ESC: Embryonic Stem Cells; iPSC: induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Homepage: http://stemcam.biotalentum.eu