SCI Innovation Space

SCI Innovation Space Update

2 minutes

The vision for the McGuire Translational Research Facility (MTRF), the building that is home to the Stem Cell Institute, was always that it would be a place where promising medical research would be converted into new treatments and tools. In an article in the  Medical Bulletin from Fall 2003, two years before the building opened in 2005, the MTRF’s mission was described to support the "translation" - or application of basic research into clinical methods and tools. 20 years later this original vision is alive and well in the Stem Cell Institute Innovation Space, which is dedicated to this translation mission. The Innovation Space was established to help lhttps://med.umn.edu/stemcell/resefacilitiesarch/facilitiesaunch start up companies based on technologies emerging from the laboratories of Stem Cell Institute faculty.  It has now been expanded to provide infrastructure for Stem Cell Institute research groups to collaborate with global Fortune 500 companies from Minnesota and beyond to co-develop new commercial opportunities with stem cells and regenerative medicine. The goal of dedicating space to commercial innovation is to foster an environment of invention, urgency, and business focus to help realize the promise of stem cell research in support of the idea for the MTRF from inception. One recent collaboration has combined research groups from 3M and the Stem Cell Institute to help guide a successful new direction for a project using human pluripotent stem cells. 

The SCI Innovation Space also continues to help launch start-up companies in the stem cell and regenerative medicine space. We are currently host to two stem cell start-up companies led by SCI faculty members.  Sarcio uses pluripotent stem cell technology developed at the SCI to address cartilage repair and EviaBio develops DMSO-free cryopreservation products for use in new stem cell therapies. 

Enquiries about joining the Stem Cell Institute Innovation Space can be directed to the SCI Director Brenda Ogle, Email: ogle@umn.edu or the Innovation Space Lead James Dutton, Email: dutto015@umn.edu.