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체세포 만능 줄기세포 확립 기술 특허등록
Patent registered for Pluripotent Stem Cell cultivation

The Jeju National University Stem Cell Research Center (Professor Park Se Pil, Director) and the Mirae CellBio (Professor Kim Eun Young, CEO) succeeded in patenting an efficient cultivation of induced pluripotent stem cell (IPS) with the patent offices of Japan and USA after 7 years of patent pending status. The patented stem cell cultivation protocol is based on the use of skin tissue cells from animal and human origins.

As an alternative to organ transplantations for combating incurable diseases, the cell replacement therapy is actively explored around the world. The patented iPS method is expected to facilitate the cell replacement therapy as it provides inducible stem cells with highly efficient differentiation activity for various diseased organ tissues without the use of human egg cells.

According to the patented protocol, iPS cells for the cell replacement therapy are prepared from the patient’s skin tissue cells which can differentiate into nerve, muscle, and pancreatic cells, etc, thus making it possible to tailor-make the therapeutic procedure against a patient’s incurable disease.

Nobel laureate (2012) Professor Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan was the first to succeed in making multi-functional stem cells from somatic (body) cells. The stem cells are then used for curing some of the otherwise incurable diseases. The JNU stem cell research team is the third in the world in developing the skin tissue cell-derived iPS stem cell protocol for therapeutic uses.