NHMRC grants stem cell licence to Sydney group

IVFAustralia and the Diabetes Transport Unit (DTU) at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney have been granted a licence by the NHMRC to create up to six new human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines from spare IVF embryos.

The cell lines, which will be created under GMP conditions, will be used to develop cell therapies for the potential treatment of type 1 diabetes.

"Having access to new Australian stem cell lines would potentially enable us to create a plentiful supply of insulin-producing beta cells that are destroyed in patients with Type I Diabetes," said Prof Bernie Tuch, director of the DTU.

But Tuch stressed that the hESC research was in its infancy, and did not yet constitute a therapy.

"The treatment of diabetes with human embryonic stem cells is not yet a therapy. Other therapies, such as the use of cord blood stem cells, are being developed, and we're not sure yet what role human embryonic stem cells will play," he said. "We're trying to be as broad as possible in developing therapies."

As with other licences granted by the NHMRC for hESC research, donated IVF embryos created prior to the date April 5, 2002 will be used to develop the cell lines.

The DTU has been awarded a Diabetes Australia Research Trust Millennium Grant from Diabetes Australia to support the development of the new hESC lines.

Tuch said the collaborators planned to make the cell lines available to other researchers, probably through the NSW Stem Cell Network.