STEMCELL Technologies helps sequence COVID-19

Canada’s largest biotechnology company, Vancouver’s STEMCELL Technologies, has been making significant contributions to the fight against COVID-19.

Human tissue culture systems developed by STEMCELL were used by researchers at China’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC) to grow lung airway cells that could successfully propagate the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Scientists were then able to isolate the virus, obtain the viral gene sequence, and quickly make the data available to researchers globally. This viral gene sequence is essential for increasing our understanding of the virus, accelerating vaccine development. STEMCELL is now supporting this groundbreaking research by providing COVID-19 researchers in China with complimentary cell culture media and ongoing technical support from in-house scientists.

“I was very proud when I first heard that our China CDC customer isolated and identified the novel coronavirus using the PneumaCult™ media that my team developed,” said Dr. Juan Hou, senior scientist at STEMCELL Technologies. “It took researchers 3 months to identify the SARS virus 17 years ago. This time the virus was isolated, sequenced, and published within weeks! As a scientist, it is deeply fulfilling that my team was able to support China's novel coronavirus investigation and the research team at the China CDC to help resolve this pandemic.”

In the coming weeks, STEMCELL’s products will play a critical role in enabling researchers to develop treatments for COVID-19. STEMCELL is committed to developing additional advanced cell culture systems for modeling various lung cell types, which will provide a deeper understanding of the infection method of respiratory viruses. These human cell culture systems will provide access to fundamental information in virology, both accelerating the discovery of effective treatments and vaccines, as well as enhancing the ability to be prepared with rapid-response systems in the case of future outbreaks.

“At STEMCELL, we are scientists helping scientists,” explained Dr. Allen Eaves, founder, president and CEO of STEMCELL Technologies. “We work collaboratively alongside researchers around the world as partners in their research programs. We are both thrilled and humbled to be able to support the effort to combat this global crisis and are committed to continuing our support to prevent this from happening again.”

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