What influenced Stem Cell Sciences decision to license the technology from Edinburgh University?
Stem Cell Sciences (SCS) has a long-standing relationship with Edinburgh University particularly with Professor Austin Smith, a leading researcher in the field who until 2006 was based in Edinburgh (UK) at the Institute of Stem Cell Research. Based on this relationship, SCS has an agreement with Edinburgh University that provides the company with exclusive rights to commercialize patents and technology resulting from research work into stem cells that Professor Smith conducted there. Professor Smith is now Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research at Cambridge University (UK). Our relationship with him is still strong and his closer geographic proximity to our head office and laboratories in Cambridge continues to be beneficial. Q2: How is this new technology different from existing methods? The general process for creating embryonic stem (ES) cells in rats is not much different from creating them in mice; it is more down to the species differences that determine how
