Researchers across the world work with ISCO to study different therapeutic applications of hpSC. Through previously announced collaborative arrangements, ISCO's scientists are working with major universities and private research organizations to study hpSC to treat liver disease, diabetes, Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), corneal blindness and various neural degenerative diseases. In one such research collaboration, internationally-recognized stem cell researcher Hans Keirstead, PhD, at the Reeve-Irvine Research Center (University of California, Irvine), recently published a paper, referring to his use of embryonic stem cells and ISCO's hpSC in work focused on the derivation of early retinal progenitor tissue.

Andrey Semechkin, PhD, CEO of ISCO said, "Other than parthenogenetic stem cells, the three most commonly used and described types of stem cells are human embryonic stem cells (hESC), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), and adult stem cells, such as those derived from cord blood, adipose tissue or bone marrow. Parthenogenetic stem cells have unique advantages over each of these other cell types, and we anticipate that since our core patent has been issued, we can now accelerate the adoption of our hpSC lines by researchers in the US and throughout the world."

"International Stem Cell Corporation is particularly proud of these accomplishments because we have been funded thus far entirely by investors, without NIH or other governmental aid," said Jeffrey Janus, Senior Vice President of ISCO. "However, once it is generally recognized that parthenogenetic cells have similar characteristics of embryonic stem cells and offer the potential to solve critical immune rejection issues - while not requiring the destruction of viable human embryos - we expect these cells to be increasingly used in government funded research to study ways of reducing human suffering and treating intractable human diseases."

SOURCE International Stem Cell Corporation