BioWorld International Correspondent
The Regea Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Finland's premier center for embryonic stem cell research, aims to achieve GMP-grade cultivation of embryonic stem cell lines suitable for human transplantation by 2007 or 2008.
The Tampere, Finland-based facility, which was established as an independent institute in 2005, received €3 million (US$3.6 million) in research funding from Tekes, Finland's national technology funding body, to pursue a research program that combines stem cell biology with biomaterials science.
"It's the single biggest funding decision in Finland, meaning they have the best resources in Finland to do this kind of research," Teppo Tuomikoski, senior technical adviser at Helsinki-based Tekes, told BioWorld International. Its ultimate aim is to develop tissue-engineering technologies for treating human diseases.
"We will be focused on three different areas: bone biology, neurology and cardiology," Riita Suuronen, Regea's director, told BioWorld International.
The institute was established by five neighboring organizations based in the Pirkanmaa region in southwestern Finland: the University of Tampere, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere University of Technology, Pirkanmaa Polytechnic and the Coxa Hospital for Joint Replacement. Heading up its stem cell research program is Outi Hovatta, who also holds a faculty position at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and who has derived around 10 percent of all embryonic stem cell lines in the world, Suuronen said.
The Regea Institute is finalizing the installation of cleanroom facilities and is developing protocols that will enable it to cultivate both embryonic and adult stem cell lines free of any animal-derived material. "We have some preliminary lines but it will take half a year before we can say they are stable stem cell lines," Suuronen said. The center also has access to stem cell lines developed at the Karolinska Institute, and they are in the process of establishing a formal collaboration. It also will benefit from available regional expertise. Several companies with capabilities in biomaterials, instrumentation and in stem cells are located in the region, including Tampere-based Inion Oy and Linvatec, a subsidiary of Largo, Fl.-based Conmed Corp., as well as several start-up companies, Suuronen said.
Like Sweden, Finland has adopted a relatively liberal regime with respect to human embryonic stem cell research. Finnish scientists are allowed to derive stem cell lines from human embryos created during in vitro fertilization procedures that are either immediately unsuitable for implantation or that have remained in frozen storage beyond the limit of what is appropriate for implantation. The country has no legislation covering the use of embryonic stem cells in transplants.
"At the moment, we could do it by just getting some kind of agreement from the [relevant] ethics committee," Suuronen said. "But we are not there yet, and when we are, so too will the legislation be, hopefully." A European Union directive on tissue engineering, which will regulate the area, is still at a consultation stage. Finland is expected to pass enabling national legislation once it comes into force.