The Institute of Cytology RAS has been working on stem cells products for the last thirty years. The most famous of them is the dermal equivalent, intended for the treatment of skin lesions, including chronic incurable diseases, as well as for the treatment of supercritical and critical burns. It has already saved lives for several burn patients.
- Now our task is to prepare a dermal equivalent for use in clinical practice. Due to the fact that, since January the 1st 2017 new the law on biomedical stem cell products has come into force, product can already be used to treat patients. We had permission to use this medicine, but now we have to conduct new studies in a "clean" laboratory under GMP conditions, - Natalia Mikhailova, acting doctor, director of the Center of the RAS told to Doctor Piter.
According to Natalia Mikhailova, the institute has already created working banks of dermal fibroblasts with individual tabs and in the future they hope that this will be a full-fledged dermal cell bank - fibroblasts, which may be required in case of technogenes / anthropogenic disasters or other emergencies.
The work of the Cell Technology Center will accelerate the development and implementation in practical public health of new methods of treatment based on stem cell technologies, in accordance with Russian and international norms and requirements, since the laboratory is equipped with all necessary equipment. For example, here is installed first in Russia automated systems of cell culture CompacT company Sartorius. This fully automated system allows the cultivation of living cells under completely controlled conditions according to specified protocols 24 hours a day without human intervention. Its capabilities will be used to create stem cell banks according to the GMP standard for future research. Including for preclinical studies of pharmaceuticals and medical products on cell cultures in vitro. This practice becomes the standard in the whole world, because it allows to reduce the use of laboratory animals for these purposes, to make the studies more accurate, quick and scalable.
The Russian-Scandinavian referent center is also starting to work in the Cell Technology Center. According to Natalia Mikhailova, its tasks include the development of cooperation between Russian and European scientists. This will be a platform for the exchange of experience and train specialists new methods.
"We are open to all institutions working in the field of stem cell technologies," said the head of Institute of Cytology of The Russian Academy of Science. We are ready to provide services for preclinical testing on cell cultures, both for manufacturing companies and for scientific institutions."
