Starfish and Sea Worms to Help Develop Stem Cell Research
18 March 08
Marine biotechnology company GlycoMar Ltd has been awarded a £70,000 grant from the Scottish Government’s SMART: SCOTLAND programme to develop new products for growing human stem cells.
The process involves the Oban-based company using blood withdrawn from marine invertebrates, including worms and starfish.
The products prepared from this blood will then be tested in stem cell culture systems supplied by Roslin Cells in Edinburgh.
GlycoMar, which means ‘sweet sea’, make a wide range of products from marine invertebrates including a process that uses the mucus withdrawn from the skin surface of starfish.
This “milked starfish slime,” as it has been described, is being developed for the treatment of conditions such as asthma.
The SMART:SCOTLAND grant enables GlycoMar, which was established in 2005 and currently has seven employees, to take its technology into the stem cell market for the first time.
“It is a great achievement for GlycoMar to be awarded this £70,000 grant,” said Managing Director, Dr Charlie Bavington. “It will allow us to diversify our expertise into the global stem cell market and enable us to collaborate with Roslin Cells, one of the UK’s most recognised stem cell companies.”
GlycoMar, which recently secured further investment of £260,000 from its investors in the first stage of a targeted £2.5 million funding round, exploits natural products in marine invertebrates to advance human health.
Dr Bavington believes that marine invertebrates are a suitable place to find novel stem cell media supplements.
“This is because of their remarkable capacity for continual growth and regeneration throughout their life course, often from their own stem cell reservoirs,” he said.
“Starfish, for example can re-grow their limbs.”
The use of non-mammalian marine material, says the company, also means there is a very low risk of cross contamination with pathogens such as BSE, which is always an issue with any products derived from mammals.
“Stem cell research is a rapidly developing field of scientific and therapeutic value,” said Dr Bavington.
“To fully realise the remarkable potential of stem cell therapies in treating disease and injury, chemically defined, standardised and reproduction procedures are required.
“This 18-month project, which is just starting, will generate novel media supplements for stem cell culture from non-mammalian marine sources that could be used to generate stem cells for future therapeutic use that meet all legislation requirements.”
Chief Operating Officer of Roslin Cells, Aidan Courtney said they were delighted to be able to provide resources and expertise to support GlycoMar in this project.
“It brings an extremely exciting and innovative new development to this area of stem cell culture,” said Mr Courtney. “We hope that in bringing together unique expertise we will address some of the challenges facing stem cell research.”
Dr Marilyn Robertson, executive director of the Scottish Stem Cell Network (SSCN), the body that brings together scientists, academics, clinicians and businesses to help in the advance of stem cell biology towards new treatments for degenerative diseases, said:
“This research and the collaboration between GlycoMar and Roslin Cells highlights the excellence of the research work being undertaken by stem cell community in Scotland and typifies the efforts of the SSCN to bring the relevant experts together in this exciting and constantly developing field.”
For more information on GlycoMar Limited
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