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Stem-cell centre to lead medical revolution IAN JOHNSTON AND HAMISH RUTHERFORD Europe's first stem-cell factory is to be built in Scotland Non-profit company will deliver clinically useable stem-cells Scottish Enterprise hopes factory will attract other companies Key quote "As a not-for-profit initiative, the Roslin centre will make clinically usable stem-cell lines available under a range of terms, including one-off payments without 'reach through' rights." Dr Paul de Sousa, a senior research fellow at Edinburgh University and RCC project manager. Story in full EUROPE'S first stem-cell factory is to be built in Scotland, helping kickstart a scientific revolution that could give paralysed people the chance to walk, restore sight, treat diabetes and reverse damage caused by incurable brain diseases such as Parkinson's. Edinburgh University, the Roslin Institute and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service are setting up a non-profit company at a cost of £2 million to produce stem cells guaranteed to be safe and of high enough quality to be used for research and medicine. The cells may also be used in the world's first attempt to rebuild a human spinal cord in the United States next year. Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, which helped fund the new firm, Roslin Cells Centre, said such a highly useful resource would attract companies involved in the work to Scotland, which has already established itself as a major world player in the field. Stem cells, capable of turning into any kind of human cell, could be used to regenerate damaged tissue, regrowing a spinal cord severed in an accident, or parts of the brain, for example. The impact of their ready use could be compared to the advent of antibiotics, said Dr Paul de Sousa, a senior research fellow at Edinburgh University and RCC project manager. And the new centre would help speed up the pace of research by making top-quality stem cells available with no strings attached. "As a not-for-profit initiative, the Roslin centre will make clinically usable stem-cell lines available under a range of terms, including one-off payments without 'reach through' rights," said Dr de Sousa. Currently, most stem-cell suppliers require a share of any treatments developed, which makes it difficult to obtain funding, as researchers do not wholly own any invention. Dr de Sousa said: "When you seek funding for research, you have to demonstrate you have the freedom to commercially expand on the products. "If the stem-cell lines have strings attached, you don't have that freedom." The centre, which will create 12 jobs, will initially be based at Roslin, home of the team, led by Professor Ian Wilmut, behind the first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep. It will later relocate to the £600 million centre for biomedical research near the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary at Little France. Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian's deputy chief executive, Neil Francis, said the economic benefits could be significant in the long term, perhaps worth £200 million a year to the region by 2015. While the technology will be available for sale around the world, Mr Francis believed there would be a cluster effect around the centre. He said: "We hope the centre will help create indigenous companies as well as attract companies from around the world." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn