A New Drug Screening Company, Cellular Dynamics International, Opening in Madison, WI.MADISON, Wis. -- Cellular Dynamics International (CDI CDI compact disc interactive: a system for storing a mix of software, data, audio, and compressed video for interactive use under processor control ), a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. , announced today that it recently began construction of laboratory facilities for a new biotechnology-based drug screening company at University Research Park in Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The 2006 population estimate of Madison was 223,389, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and . CDI was founded by James Thomson James Thomson may be
A public, land-grant institution, UW-Madison offers a wide spectrum of liberal arts studies, professional programs, and student activities. and Tactics II Ventures LP, a Wisconsin based venture capital firm. The company will focus initially on developing and providing stem cell stem cell In living organisms, an undifferentiated cell that can produce other cells that eventually make up specialized tissues and organs. There are two major types of stem cells, embryonic and adult. and HEK HEK Halo Editing Kit (gaming) HEK Human Embryonic Kidney Cells HEK Händler Einkaufspreis cell-based screening services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. These services will assist in the development of safer and more effective drugs. The company's screening services will be built around two different technologies developed at UW-Madison. The company's initial screening services will use HEK cells for hERG screening. HEK cell hERG screening was first developed at UW-Madison in the lab of Craig January. HEK cells are kidney-derived cells that have been modified to have some of the electrical conductivity properties of human heart cells. January's screening methodology is now widely accepted as a powerful technique for screening new drug candidates for potentially adverse side-effects on patients' hearts before new drugs are tried on animals and humans. The company's future lines of screening services will use technologies developed by James Thomson and Timothy Kamp to, for the first time, make actual human heart cells, cardiomyocytes, available for drug screening. Currently, adult human heart cells do not survive well or reproduce outside of a living human heart, making it impractical to use native human heart cells to screen drug candidates in a laboratory prior to testing on live animals and humans. Thomson and Kamp have developed a technique to reliably direct human ES cells to differentiate into human cardiomyocytes. This new technique makes it possible to use human cardiomyocytes to screen drug candidates for both safety and effectiveness in a laboratory environment before they are given to animals and human patients. "We are thrilled to be building a new company in Wisconsin with such renowned scientists as James Thomson, Craig January and Timothy Kamp," said Bob Palay, managing member of Tactics II Ventures and chairman of CDI. "We believe that this is an exciting opportunity to utilize these exciting new techniques to improve and protect human health. These novel drug screens promise to speed the development of many new safe and effective drugs." "I've always been very proud of how strongly associated Wisconsin has become with the stem cell field," commented Thomson. "There is a tremendous opportunity for this field to benefit Wisconsin economically. But we face stiff competition from other states such as California and New Jersey, which are making very large public investments in stem cell research. I hope that the legacy of CDI will be in that it demonstrates that it is possible to set up a successful, profitable stem cell company in Wisconsin, and it will inspire others to set up businesses here too." According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. January, "In the last several years, biotechnology-based cell screening methods have assumed a much greater importance. These methods have allowed for the early recognition of potential cardiac side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. of new drug candidates. One direct result is that thousands of patients' lives have been saved. CDI's services will be focused on such life saving technologies." "The opportunity to test new drugs on human cardiac muscle cardiac muscle n. The muscle of the heart, consisting of anastomosing transversely striated muscle fibers formed of cells united at intercalated disks; the myocardium. Also called muscle of heart. cells or other specific human cell types derived from stem cells stem cells, unspecialized human or animal cells that can produce mature specialized body cells and at the same time replicate themselves. Embryonic stem cells are derived from a blastocyst (the blastula typical of placental mammals; see embryo), which is very young in the laboratory has the potential to revolutionize drug development. Perhaps the greatest impact of this new technology will be to provide a higher level of safety in candidate drugs before they reach patients," commented Kamp. About Tactics II Ventures LP Tactics II Ventures LP is a Wisconsin-based venture capital firm specializing in early-stage life science companies. Its principals, Bob Palay and Tom Palay, are founders of the Madison-based NimbleGen Systems and Genetic Assemblies. About Thomson, January, and Kamp James A. Thomson, V.M.D., Ph.D., Diplomate dip·lo·mate n. One who has received a diploma, especially a physician certified as a specialist by a board of examiners. diplomate (dip´l A.C.V.P WiCell Research Institute. University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, and The Genome Center of Wisconsin Craig T. January, M.D., Ph.D Professor of Medicine and Physiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School Timothy J. Kamp, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Medicine and Physiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School WiCell Research Institute. |
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