RLS plans regenerative medicine centre

Our Corporate Bureau

Mumbai, Aug 28: RELIANCE Life Science (RLS) will establish a regenerative medicine centre as part of its second phase of the cell biology initiative. This facility will have a dedicated clinical environment for development and application of cell transplants such as pancreatic, hepatitic and retinal stem cells.

RLS is also finalising plans in other areas of biotechnology covering the medical, plant and industrial spectra, a release said. RLS has just been listed as one of the 10 companies working in the areas of embryonic stem cells by the National Institutes of Health, USA and eligible for federal research funds under the new US Presidential guidelines.

Reliance group of companies, vice-chairman, Mukesh Ambani said, “We are enthused by the promise of our cell biology initiative to offer novel research-led therapies, herald the frontier area of regenerative medicine and benefit mankind.”

RLS is also creating one of the largest cord blood repositories in the world. A Reuters report had earlier indicated that RLS plans to provide patients with ReliCord, enriched blood that can be used to treat disorders such as thalassemia, a fatal blood disease. ReliCord is created from umbilical cord blood, which is rich in stem cells, the precursors to other blood cells. It is also creating a molecular diagnostics facility for HLA typing and infectious disease testing, the release said. Founder director of RLS and research director for assisted reproduction and embryonic stem cells, Dr Firoza Parikh, said, “We are in a very exciting era in medical science. Our team is looking at novel cures for diseases such as diabetes and Parkinsons’ by harnessing the property of immortality of stem cells.”

The cell biology centre currently has a team strength of 51 members of which 30 are technically qualified. The centre focuses on research and development in stem cells and tissue engineering.

Teams in the centre are engaged in the areas of assisted reproduction, embryonic stem cells, haematopoietic stem cells, skin cells, genetics, molecular diagnostics, gene therapy and tissue engineering.