Abstract
The past year has been one of great change and achievement for the Canadian stem cell community.
The Canadian policy landscape underwent important revisions in late 2010; most notably the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in a Reference case from the province of Quebec, Canada [101], which determined that significant portions of the Assisted Human Reproduction Act [102] exceeded the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada, and as such, are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision upheld the criminal activities prohibited under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act (e.g., human cloning, creating in vitro human embryos for research and manipulating embryos) yet declared unconstitutional important provisions dealing with licensing and regulating the “controlled activities” relevant to stem cell research, including the derivation of new human embryonic stem cell lines [102]. As a result, these activities are now under provincial jurisdiction. While the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision does not affect the applicability of the Granting Council Guidelines to stem cell research in Canada, it still has major implications, for it has caused not only a great degree of policy and regulatory uncertainty, but also a legislative vacuum in the affected areas [1].
Despite the legislative uncertainty, Canada has continued to produce outstanding research, with key papers coming from the Bhatia laboratory (direct conversion of fibroblasts into blood progenitors [2]), the Dick laboratory (identification of a single blood precursor cell capable of forming the entire blood system [3]) and the Caulfield group (policy issues pertaining to induced pluripotent stem cells and stem cell tourism [4–6]).
Underlining its commitment to maximizing the health and economic outcomes of stem cell research, the Government of Canada has established a new US$30 million Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Toronto under the scientific leadership of Dr Peter Zandstra. In addition, the Ontario Government launched the Ontario Stem Cell Initiative under Dr Janet Rossant, while CELLCan, a new national clinical trials and current good manufacturing practice manufacturing consortium is now under development. Canada’s Stem Cell Network, led by Dr Michael Rudnicki, continues to be the catalyzing force behind all of these activities.
2011 also marked the 50th anniversary of Till and McCulloch’s discovery of stem cells at the University of Toronto in 1961 and, by way of celebration, Canada played host to nearly 4000 stem cell researchers from around the globe at the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual conference. Although sobered by the passing of Dr McCulloch early in 2011, his legacy was honored through a keynote named lecture, satellite symposia and several ancillary events, including a stem cell exhibit at the Ontario Science Centre and inauguration into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.
Finally, Canada’s leadership in exploring social and ethical issues of stem cell research also found a new conduit for public engagement, as the Perceptions of Promise: Biotechnology, Society and Art exhibition opened to critical acclaim in Calgary, AB, and will travel to the New York’s Chelsea Art Gallery this November and to the McMaster Art Gallery in Hamilton, Ontario in 2012.
Key institution
University of British Columbia
Located in Vancouver, the University of British Columbia is one of Canada’s largest research institutions and is consistently ranked in the top 40 universities worldwide. The University is closely affiliated with the BC Cancer Agency, the Terry Fox Laboratory and the Michael Smith Laboratory, and stem cell leaders include Drs Connie Eaves, Keith Humphries, Peter Lansdorp, Sam Aparicio, Fabio Rossi and Jamie Piret.
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Canada’s capital city boasts a hub of stem cell research at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. It is the home of the national Stem Cell Network, as well as innovative basic and clinical stem cell research in the areas of muscle, heart and pancreatic illnesses under the leadership of Drs Michael Rudnicki, Bill Stanford and Duncan Stewart.
Toronto Discovery District
The research institutions clustered around the intersection of University and College streets in Toronto is one of the world’s premier centers for stem cell research. Within the institutions that include the University of Toronto, SickKids Hospital, University Health Network and Mt Sinai Hospital are the laboratories of Drs Janet Rossant, John Dick, Derek van der Kooy, Gordon Keller, Andras Nagy, Freda Miller, Peter Dirks and Norman Iscove, among many others.
Innovative company
STEMCELL Technologies
Based in Vancouver, BC, STEMCELL Technologies is a rapidly growing, profitable company with over 400 employees that has become a global leader in the development and commercialization of tissue culture media and cell separation reagents. STEMCELL also carries out extensive research and development in collaboration with academic centers to develop standardized reagents and tools for stem cell research, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The majority of STEMCELL’s products are developed and manufactured in its International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13485-certified Vancouver facility.
Stem Cell Therapeutics
Stem Cell Therapeutics is a public biotechnology company developing commercial drug-based therapies to treat CNS diseases. Based in Calgary, AB, Stem Cell Therapeutics focuses on the development of therapies that utilize drugs to stimulate a patient’s own resident stem cells to repair brain and nerve function lost due to disease or injury. The company’s extensive patent portfolio supports potential expansion into future clinical programs in numerous neurological diseases such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Ones to watch…
Jeff Biernaskie
University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
▪ After completing his postdoctoral studies with Freda Miller at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, Biernaskie established his laboratory in Calgary.
Research focus: The role of endogenous stem cells in tissue regeneration, particularly within the skin and neural systems.
Cheryle Seguin
University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada
▪ Seguin formerly worked in the laboratory of Janet Rossant at the SickKids Hospital in Toronto.
Research focus: Investigating human embryonic stem cells and the mechanisms that regulate early development and cell lineage specification.
Amy Zarzeczny
University of Regina, Regina, Canada
▪ Since 2008, Amy Zarzeczny has emerged as a leading expert in ethical, legal and social issues within stem cell research.
Research focus: Stem cell tourism and policy issues, an area she studied extensively while working with Professor Timothy Caulfield at the University of Alberta.
Key Strengths
▪ Highly collaborative culture across all research disciplines.
▪ 50 years of experience in the field; recognized as the world leader in hematopoietic and cancer stem cells.
▪ US$400 million investment in physical infrastructure completed.
▪ Public healthcare system well suited to clinical trials.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Bibliography
- 1 Stem Cell Network Policy Statement. Stem Cell Research – Challenges and Recommendations. Policy Development Committee, Stem Cell Network of Canada (2011).
- 2 Szabo E, Rampali S, Rsiueno R et al. Direct conversion of human fibroblasts to multilineage blood progenitors. Nature468,521–526 (2010).
- 3 Notta F, Doulatov S, Laurenti E, Poeppl A, Jurisica I, Dick J. Isolation of single human hematopoietic stem cells capable of long-term multilineage engraftment. Science333(6039),218–221 (2011).
- 4 Zarzeczny A, Scott C, Hyun I et al. iPS cells: mapping the policy issues. Cell139(6),1032–1037 (2009).
- 5 Zarzeczny A, Caulfield T. Stem cell tourism and doctors’ duties to minors – a view from Canada. Am. J. Bioeth.10(5),3–15 (2010).
- 6 Caulfield T, Scott C, Hyun I, Lovell-Badge R, Kato K, Zarzeczny A. Stem cell research policy and iPS cells. Nat. Meth.7(1),28–33 (2010).
- 101 Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act, 2010 SCC 61 (2010) http://scc.lexum.org/en/2010/2010scc61/2010scc61.html
- 102 Assisted Human Reproduction Act, c. 2 (2004) http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/A-13.4/FullText.html
