Strengthening stem cell research in Switzerland

When it comes to treating incurable diseases, hopes are high for stem cells because they can develop into a multitude of specialized cells. But despite rapidly accumulating and promising results - stem cells are for instance implicated in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes- the nature, function and differentiation capacity of stem cells are still poorly understood. As part of the recently started National Research Program (NRP) 63 of the Swiss Science Foundation, Antoine Peters aims at gaining new insights into basic stem cell biology. He and his team at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research are trying to delineate how totipotency, the ability to form all cell types in a developing individual, is established upon fertilization of an egg. The NRP 63 "Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine" has recruited high-caliber scientists from the field in different academic institutions in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich. NRP63 is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation . A total of CHF 10 million for a five-year period has been allocated to this program.