StemBANCC Project
University of Oxford is the academic lead institution for StemBANCC. This 5 year research programme involves academic and industry partners across 11 countries. Its objective is to develop human-induced pluripotent stem cells as a platform for drug discovery.
This ambitious project brings together internationally renowned scientists and clinicians to study and develop new therapies for 8 major diseases of our time: Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Migraine, Pain and Diabetes.
StemBANCC in Oxford is a grouping of 8 Departments and the world-leading MRC FGU and FMRIB. With our European academic and industry partners, we will create a world-class research programme to develop an unparalleled resource of induced pluripotent stem cells from patients with well characterized disorders; to overcome current bottlenecks in stem cell re-programming and differentiation; to identify molecular and cellular phenotypes of disease in stem cell models; and to translate findings into novel drug screening efficacy and toxicity assays.
We have our kick-off meeting later in 2012 in Basel, Switzerland, where all 25 academic partners, 11 industry partners and the scientific advisory board will convene.
More information will be available soon on the main StemBANCC website.
Newly released is a report of the Expert Group on Dealing with Ethical and Regulatory Challenges of International Biobank Research. It is entitled Biobanks for Europe - A challenge for governance. Dr Jane Kaye, HeLEX Director, was the rapporteur. (Update: 
