User:ALual/sandbox

European Bank for induced pluripotent Stem Cells (EBiSC)
EBiSC is designed to address the increasing demand by iPSC researchers for quality-controlled, disease-relevant research grade iPSC lines, data and cell services. Its goal is to demonstrate an operational banking and distribution service of iPSC lines after 3 years and to establish subsequently for Europe a centralised, not-for-profit bank providing all qualified users with access to scalable, cost-efficient and customised products.

Joint forces
The EBiSC Consortium including EFPIA partners boasts the leadership, scientific expertise, facilities, networks and experience to achieve these goals and, being representative of all stakeholders from tissue donors to clinical and academic iPSC researchers and industrial users, to respond appropriately to advances in science and society. Led by Pfizer Ltd and managed by Roslin Cells Sciences Ltd., the Consortium comprises 8 active participant iPSC Centres with clinical and patient networks, a global leader in industrial iPSC supply, international experts in iPSC science, biobanking, bioengineering and regenerative medicine, and scholars in law and ethics.

The main facility will be at the Babraham Research Campus (Cambridge, UK) and will undertake cell expansion, Quality Control and characterisation. The European Cell Culture Collection (ECACC) of Public Health England (Department of Health, UK) will coordinate cell line distribution. The Fraunhofer IBMT (Saarbrücken, Germany) will provide comprehensive operational back up.

EBiSC’s capacity will be 10,000 cell lines; it will eventually process over 1,000 lines per year. In a phased business strategy EBiSC will hot-start distribution of lines contributed by iPSC Centres in 2014, lines collected based on specified user demand, will reach full scale operations in 2016, and with extended funding will become self-sustaining as a not for profit banking operation by 2019.

Global iPSC banking
EBiSC will spearhead Europe in the international standardisation of iPSC banking by forging collaborative links with similar endeavours in the USA and Asia. Through market research, stakeholder engagement, incentives and training, EBiSC will promote wider participation and use, maximise the value of the research resource, and secure its longevity. EBiSC will promote iPSC technology and global iPSC banking, strengthen the competitiveness of European R&D, and enhance the health and wealth of nations.

Line in the collection
In addition to the cell lines already available from the catalogue, another existing 240 lines are will be available shortly once they have passed our QC testing programme. Lines expected to be released shortly include:

Parkinson’s Disease research including Lrrk2 mutations, alpha synuclein triplication and sporadic PD Gaucher’s Disease – GBA mutations Alzheimer’s Disease / ALS – C9orf72 mutations Frontotemporal Dementia – Progranulin mutations Control lines with wide ranging genotype data

An additional 200 reprogrammed lines and CRISPR mediated gene edited control lines are being generated by EBiSC consortium partners. These lines will cover the following areas of biomedical research:

Dravet Syndrome Low birth weight / diabetes Cardiomyopathies/arrhythmias Parkinson’s Disease Facioscapulohumeral-muscular dystrophy (FSHD) Alzheimer’s Disease Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Motor Neuron Disease / ALS Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) More detailed information on these new lines will be made available once the lines have been characterised.

Links
(1) https://ebisc.org/ (2) https://cells.ebisc.org/ (3) http://www.phe-culturecollections.org.uk/