Ontario government invests $10 million in stem cell research

The Ontario government has given the Ontario Initiative in Personalized Stem Cell Medicine $10 million in funding, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto announced Monday.

The funding is to support the work of Dr. Janet Rossant of the University of Toronto and SickKids hospital and her team. Dr. Rossant's research is cutting edge in the field of stem cells. The funding will support the training and employment of 400 research staff over the coming five years. The Ministry of Research and Innovation reports:

“The global market for stem cell therapies is estimated to reach $20 billion by next year," said Dr. Janet Rossant, Director for the Ontario Initiative in Personalized Stem Cell Medicine. "This field of research is exploding and the McGuinty government understands the need to keep Ontario research and biotechnology at the forefront — to advance new discoveries, create new therapies and keep many of the world’s best researchers right here in Ontario.”

The funding will be split between six institutions in Ontario: SickKids, the University of Toronto, McMaster University, Mount Sinai Hospital, University Health Network and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. The funding for SickKids will go to support the Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cell facility. Researchers have taken normal adult cells called Induced pluripotent stem cells and coded them to act like embryonic stem cells. This research opens doors, as it allows healthy donors to hasten stem cell research. In the past, stem cell research was controversial because scientists had to use destroyed human embryos. Ontario has been a leader in stem cell research since the 1960s when Ernest McCulloch and J.E. Till discovered stem cells after injecting mice with bone marrow cells.