MULTIPLY STEM CELLS IN THE LABORATORY
The American and French governments’ lifting of restrictions on stem cell research means renewed hope for millions of sick people. Research is now more essential than ever. In April 2009, a team from the Université de Montréal’s Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) succeeded in producing a large quantity of laboratory stem cells from a small number of blood stem cells obtained from bone marrow. The multidisciplinary team, led by Dr. Guy Sauvageau, thus took a giant step towards advancing treatments in several fields in which no treatment currently exists. In addition, this discovery will give a boost to the development of treatments in the areas of bone marrow and other transplants, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. The IRIC, founded in 2003 at the Université de Montréal, is Canada’s leading systems biology centre. Its principal missions are to discover new cancer-fighting therapies and to train the researchers of tomorrow.
