Following its success in automating the process of creating induced pluripotent stem cells, Kyoto University's CiRA Foundation will start producing iPS cells from patients' own cells utilizing the automated culture system in April.
Under a project aimed at making iPS cells — which theoretically can develop into almost all organs — widely available for regenerative medicine by drastically reducing the production cost, the foundation has successfully created the stem cells in a month using a German-made immune cell production apparatus in which a healthy person's blood, reagents and specific genes were mixed.
From April, the foundation will automatically make autologous iPS cells and turn them into, among others, heart muscle and nerve cells at a new facility in the city of Osaka. The iPS cell-derived cells will be frozen with liquid nitrogen and stored for later safety and efficacy studies.
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