Case Western Reserve University

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, a private research and teaching institution located in Cleveland, Ohio, was established in 1826 as Western Reserve University and was strengthened by a 1967 merger with the Case Institute of Technology, which was founded in 1880 by philanthropist Leonard Case, Jr. Case Western Reserve University has positioned itself as a leading research institution, and in addition to academic programs in the arts and sciences, engineering, law, management, dentistry, nursing, and social sciences, Case's School of Medicine is internationally recognized; research funding from the National Institutes of Health ranks it 13th largest in the United States. The School of Medicine maintains affiliations with University Hospitals of Cleveland, the Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth Medical Center, and the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Case's early success in stem cell research led to the filing of patent applications in 1986 by the Department of Biology for mesenchymal stem cells and in the years from 1989 to 2000 for the clinical application of mesenchymal stem cells, including but not limited to transplantation, gene therapy, and support of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The first United States clinical trials using mesenchymal stem cells began in 1996.

Case received funding in 2006 from the state of Ohio to create the Ohio Cell—Based Therapy Consortium—An effort focused on coordinating clinical trials within the state of Ohio. In 2007 Case and its partners in the National Center for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) hosted the Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine Conference from August 27 to 29, 2007, in Cleveland, with international attendees representing 127 institutions from 27 countries. The conference focused on mesenchymal stem cells technology and clinical application.

The Cell Production Facility was opened in November 2005 on the Case campus. This facility [Page 68]complies with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations in providing an ultrasterile environment for the preparation and expansion of stem cells for use in human clinical trials at University Hospitals of Cleveland and the Cleveland Clinic in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.