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In conversation with... EBiSC2

How to make a stem cell line biobank self-sustaining

© Fraunhofer IBMT, Foto: Bernd Müller
© Fraunhofer IBMT, Foto: Bernd Müller

About the EBiSC2 project

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are key tools for early drug development and disease modelling. iPSCs are mature adult cells that have been reprogrammed to make them ‘pluripotent’, i.e. able to differentiate into any type of cell found in the human body.

Building on the foundations laid by the IMI project EBiSC, which set up the initial EBiSC catalogue of over 800 iPSC lines, EBiSC2 successfully enabled EBiSC to transition into a self-sustaining biobanking model for long-term operations. The project developed new iPSC lines to expand and enrich the catalogue, new pre-differentiated cells which help to simplify iPSC research, and completed proof-of-concept studies undertaken by academia and industry to demonstrate reliability. The EBiSC2 project has provided the scientific community with access to a wide range of robust, high-quality iPSCs from diverse disease and genetic backgrounds which will continue to be available to all researchers via www.ebisc.org.

About the event

This 45-min online event discussed the EBiSC2 project, which was funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative, a public-private partnership between the European Union and the European pharmaceuticals industry. The goal of this event was to showcase the project’s achievements to a wider, general audience discussing the value of the public-private partnership in boosting the uptake of the project’s results by industries, researchers, and clinicians, and demonstrating how the project has addressed key challenges in health research and innovation. The event took the form of a panel discussion followed by a dedicated Q&A session moderated by IHI’s Scientific Officer, Angelica Valente.

Support material and recording

   

The supporting slides for this webinar can be found here.

The recording can be found here.

Meet the speakers

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Andreas Ebneth

EFPIA project lead for EBiSC2

Head of the Neurodegeneration TA

Janssen Neuroscience Therapeutic Area

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Julia Neubauer

Deputy project coordinator of EBiSC2

Head of the Stem Cell and Cryo Technology Department

Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering

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Rachel Steeg

Project manager for EBiSC and EBiSC2

Head of EBiSC

Fraunhofer UK Research Ltd

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Stefan Frank

EBiSC2 project lead for Bayer

BlueRock Therapeutics

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Angelica Valente

Scientific project officer

Innovative Health Initative