Team Grant : CIHR-JDRF – Accelerating Stem Cell-Based Therapies for Type 1 Diabetes – Full Application
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire with Unit
Memorial Deadline: Tuesday 25th, February 2020
External Deadline: Tuesday 3rd, March 2020
Description
SIRI will be offering support with application development for this opportunity. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Jennifer Stevens (v5js@mun.ca) early during the development process to discuss the services available to them.
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Over the past two decades, studies of islet transplantation have shown that this procedure can lead to insulin independence, normoglycemia and elimination of hypoglycemia in people with T1D who experience severe hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia unawareness (1,2). However, limitations of this approach – including the need for cadaveric donor islets and the requirement for lifelong immunosuppression, with significant side-effects – mean that it cannot be applied widely to people with T1D, particularly children (3, 4). Over the past 10 years, major research efforts have shown that insulin-producing cells can be produced from human embryonic stem cells or other pluripotent stem cells (5, 6), opening up the possibility of a renewable source of transplantable cells with the goal of curing T1D. Challenges in translating this opportunity into a therapy for T1D include optimizing a cell therapy product that replaces the physiological, glucose-responsive functionality of endogenous adult beta cells, and scaling-up and quality controlling the production process. In addition, durable solutions are needed to protect transplanted insulin-producing cells from the recipient immune system and to maximize their survival and function once transplanted. Other challenges include identifying the ideal anatomical site and delivery approach (i.e., using a device or encapsulation approach, or device-less means) for transplanting the cells (7).
Building on Canada’s demonstrated excellence and leadership in clinical islet transplantation, stem cell biology, diabetes research, immunology, genetic engineering, and cell encapsulation systems, JDRF and CIHR will fund multidisciplinary, collaborative Canadian research teams to accelerate a breakthrough stem cell-based therapy for T1D.
This initiative is intended to bring together research teams with extensive diversity of expertise, and a joint structure that goes beyond conventional research collaborations to accelerate stem cell-based therapies for the treatment of T1D. Specific areas of expertise include, but are not limited to: autoimmunity, immunology, beta cell physiology, bioengineering, genome editing, preclinical models of T1D, preclinical to clinical translation, stem cell biology, and surgery/microsurgery. Equity, diversity and inclusion within the research teams is encouraged. Each multidisciplinary research team should represent a focused scientific taskforce with the expertise and capacity to overcome the technical and biological challenges in this area and accelerate the development of a new stem cell-based therapy for T1D.
The focus of these collaborative team grants will be on developing, and translating to the clinical trial stage, a strategy for delivery and protection of a stem cell-based therapy for T1D. Research teams should propose a strategy that addresses at least one of the following:
- aims to recapitulate the physiological, glucose-responsive insulin kinetics of healthy beta cells, with long-term functionality
- site optimization, encapsulation, genome editing, targeted immunomodulation, or any other approach to optimize the delivery, engraftment, survival and/or function of transplanted cells
The functionality of the cell source, differentiation capacity, and genome editing protocols used in the strategy developed should be shown to be reproducible and validated by at least one other facility other than where the protocol originated.
Research teams should focus on developing a cell therapy product that could be deployed in humans. Research that includes components of automation, scale-up, and process control of the cellular growth and differentiation component of the product being developed are of special interest.
Clinical trials already in progress are not eligible for this competition.
Funds Available
CIHR and JDRF financial contributions for this initiative are subject to availability of funds. Should funding levels not be available or are decreased due to unforeseen circumstances, CIHR and JDRF reserve the right to reduce, defer or suspend financial contributions to grants received as a result of this funding opportunity.
- The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $6,000,000, enough to fund 2 teams. The maximum amount per team grant is $600,000 per year for 5 years for a total of $3,000,000 per team grant. CIHR and JDRF will co-fund each team at a ratio of 1:1 across the 5 years of the grant.
Additional information can be found at Research Net.