MADISON, Wis., Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) today announced that it was named as the overall Gold winner in The Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards.
The Wall Street Journal 2011 Technology Innovation Awards are determined by a panel of independent judges who evaluated significant innovations that occurred in 2010. Six-hundred-five applicants competed for the award in 16 categories. Of these, the panel chose 35 winners and runners-up.
"Medical research has been challenged by the lack of access to a consistent supply of human cells, such as heart or brain cells," said Dr. James Thomson, CDI founder and chief scientific officer. "Research today employs proxies, such as animal cells, tumor cell lines or cadaveric tissue, none of which truly reflect human biology. I founded CDI based on my desire to make pluripotent stem cells and human tissue cells widely available to accelerate discoveries in human health and biological research. CDI's production technology and capacity provide this access, enabling us to manufacture human material from anyone. CDI has overcome the scalability challenges, mass producing industrial quantities of human cells in high quality and purity."
CDI has developed a proprietary manufacturing process in which cells isolated from a doctor's office standard blood draw from virtually anyone can be reprogrammed into that individual's personal pluripotent stem cell line. CDI can then differentiate these stem cells into any cell type in the human body in industrial quantity, quality and purity so that scientists have a consistent supply of human cells from specific individuals. Two human cell products, iCell® Cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells) and iCell Endothelial Cells (blood vessel cells), have been launched over the past two years, with neurons and liver cells already available in early access collaborations with researchers worldwide.
"CDI is the first company to utilize stem cell technology to manufacture the vast quantities of high quality stem cells and tissue cells required to better understand human biology, revolutionize the drug discovery process, and develop cell-based therapies to treat human diseases," said Robert Palay, chairman of the board and CDI chief executive officer. "We are honored that The Wall Street Journal's panel of independent judges recognized our company as a breakthrough innovator in human medicine and biotechnology."
About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.
Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer of next-generation stem cell technologies for drug development, cell therapy, tissue engineering and organ regeneration. CDI harnesses its unique manufacturing technology to produce differentiated tissue cells from any individual's stem cell line in industrial quality, quantity and purity. CDI is accelerating the adoption of pluripotent stem cell technology, adapting its methods to fit into standard clinical practice by the creation of individual stem cell lines from a standard blood draw. CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CDI's facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin. See www.cellulardynamics.com.
SOURCE Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.
