PPL Therapeutics Inc is pleased to announce its success in winning a second competitive grant under the Advanced Technology Program from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, US Dept of Commerce.
The single company grant of $1.9m over 3 years has been awarded to fund further work on an innovative approach to deriving mammalian pluripotent stem cells.
The research to be funded provides an important advance, in that an unlimited number of pluripotent cells can be obtained using a method that does not require an embryo intermediate.
This approach has shown promise in early- phase research and a patent application has been filed.
The first grant, awarded in October 1999, which supports PPL‘s xenotransplantation program, has already resulted in the birth of the world’s first cloned pigs.
Research funded by this second ATP grant will be focused exclusively on the production and differentiation of stem cells from non-human primate and livestock species.
Experience gained in the development of this technology in animals will provide the groundwork for future applications in the area of human stem cell production, both for autologous and non-autologous medical applications.
Ron James, CEO and Managing Director of PPL Therapeutics said: “PPL’s work on stem cells should lead to more ethically acceptable cellular therapies.
Coupled with our xenograft program, it builds on our core competencies and gives PPL a second area of focus to add to its main business of producing therapeutic proteins and peptides in the milk of transgenic animals.”