Robotic stem cell research

British Scientists will develop robotics to automate important stem cell research, meaning thousands of experiments will be able to be conducted at once, rather than just a handful being possible by a single scientist at work.

The Department of Trade and Industry is providing £1.1 million for development of this technology to a consortium led by Plasticell Ltd, a London-based biotechnology company which is developing drugs to regenerate tissues of the body, to automate its Combicult research experiments.

Today's announcement coincides with first meeting of the UK/Medicon Valley (a Danish/Swedish biotechnology cluster) collaboration, which will focus on stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Academics and biotech companies will hold workshops and visit London, Edinburgh and Cambridge.

Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks, said: "The UK is an acknowledged leader in this field and we want to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of stem cell research. That's why we're supporting the Plasticell consortium on this project, which provides a great opportunity to harness the UK's world-class expertise and use it to boost our economy and, potentially, our health.

"Stem cell research has tremendous potential to tackle some of the most devastating diseases. It could benefit patients with conditions such as Parkinson's disease, juvenile diabetes and heart disease."

The Plasticell consortium includes University College London (UCL) and the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC). The robotic equipment to be developed in the project will enable researchers to test the effects of thousands of different factors and combinations of factors (such as growth, nutrients, hormones, or physical conditions) on how stem cells differentiate, or how they give rise to tissue cells like lung, heart, brain cells which can be used clinically. Plasticell calls this technology Combinatorial Cell Culture(tm)

Dr Yen Choo, Plasticell's Chief Executive, said:

"At the moment, experiments are done on a trial and error basis and since cell culture work is cumbersome, a scientist can only handle a few experiments at any one time. However, with our technology a scientist could carry out 250,000 experiments in parallel in a couple of weeks. To do this many stem cell differentiation experiments in the conventional way would take that scientist a few lifetimes!"

"I am very pleased our consortium has secured this highly competitive funding from the DTI, which allows Plasticell to progress Combinatorial Cell Culture(tm) in collaboration with world class partners at UCL and NIBSC."

Plasticell will automate its research product, CombiCult(tm) using industry-standard robotic equipment housed in sterile enclosures where tissue culture can take place. This will increase productivity by enabling experiments to run 24/7 in a contaminant-free environment. In addition, Plasticell will licence the technique and allow the wider research community to benefit from this important technology.

Sir Aaron Klug, the Nobel laureate and a senior advisor to the company who is researching gene regulation, added: "This technology offers a powerful key to the goal of developing pathways for the controlled differentiation of stem cells. This is absolutely required in order to realise the potential of regenerative medicine. The DTI grant is not only a milestone for Plasticell, but also for the UK's effort in the field."