University of Toronto

THE UNIVERSITY OF Toronto (U of T) is a public research university in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The institution comprises 16 academic faculties and a collegiate framework of 11 colleges within its principal campus St. George, which surrounds Queen's Park in the Downtown district. It is one of the most widely known and highly regarded universities in Canada and ranks [Page 594]highly in numerous world rankings. There are two other campuses along with the St. George campus: University of Toronto Scarborough, and University of Toronto Mississauga. The university was chartered in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in the colony of Upper Canada.

Research at the University of Toronto has been responsible for the world's first electronic heart pacemaker, artificial larynx, single—lung transplant, nerve transplant, artificial pancreas, chemical laser, G—suit, the first practical electron microscope, the first cloning of T—cells, and the extraction of insulin. The university is consistently placed among the leading academic institutions of the world. Newsweek places the university first in Canada, and 18th worldwide, 9th among public universities, and among the top five universities outside the United States. The University is also affiliated with nine Nobel laureates (six alumni), the most of any Canadian university.

The McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine was established at University Health Network in 2003 with a generous donation from Rob and Cheryl McEwen, which they matched in 2006 with a second donation. The University Health Network is Canada's largest hospital, and a major teaching hospital of the University of Toronto. The McEwen Centre's vision is to be a world—renowned center for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.

To achieve this ambitious goal, the team of McEwen investigators is working together to accelerate the development of more effective treatments for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, respiratory disease, and spinal cord injury. The McEwen Centre is based in the heart of Toronto's Discovery District at the MaRS Centre/Toronto Medical Discovery Tower. The name MaRS was originally a file name which came to stand for Medical and Related Sciences. Research at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine focuses on repairing or regenerating cells, tissues, and organs damaged by disease, accident, or age. Strategies include the transplantation of cells and tissues derived from stem cells, and the stimulation of existing organ—specific stem cells.

Victoria College in the University of Toronto is one of many colleges in the University of Toronto system.

Dr. Gordon Keller, senior scientist in the division of stem cell and developmental biology at the Ontario Cancer Institute, is also the director of the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Research interests include lineage specific differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells in culture; development of the hematopoietic, vascular, and cardiac lineages from ES cells; commitment of ES cells to endoderm—derived lineages; and growth and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells.

Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics, Inc., (TRT), an emerging Canadian life sciences company, will exclusively license its human umbilical cord peri—vascular cell (HUCPVC) technology to Stem Cell Authority, Ltd., for family stem cell banking in the United States. The licensing fees and annual minimum royalties will exceed $20 million Canadian over the next four years. The technology originated at the University of Toronto and has been offered to the public in Canada since March 2007 through a licensing agreement between TRT and Toronto—based CReAte Cord Blood Bank (CCBB). Currently, TRT technology is available to the Canadian public through CCBB, which markets HUCPVCs as PeristemT. Once a baby is born, a health professional simply collects the cord tissue and places it in a biocontainer supplied with a nutrient solution and then ships it to [Page 595]the CReATe laboratories for processing and storage. A technician at the laboratory uses a proprietary process to remove the cells from the cord tissue and stores them for future use. Unlike cord blood stem cells, which can also be harvested, mesenchymal cells are the building blocks for the muscle, bone, and connective tissues of the body. HUCPVCs also serve as regulators of the immune system. Published uses of mesenchymal cells in cell therapy include combating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases (Crohn's, juvenile diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis), cancer, heart disease, and tissue engineering. The HUCPVC breakthrough was announced in 2005 when the Davies research group at the University of Toronto discovered these stem cells in an uncharted part of the umbilical cord—the connective tissue immediately surrounding the blood vessels in the cord. The great advantages of this source of mesenchymal stem cells lie in sourcing them from tissue that would otherwise be thrown away at birth, their very rapid proliferation, and the huge numbers of harvested stem cells.

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