Stem Cell Sciences Enters into Services Agreement with Huntingdon's Disease Research Group, CHDI Found...( CAMBRIDGE England November 10 /- ...)

CAMBRIDGE, England, November 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

- ("Stem Cell Sciences", "SCS", "the Company")

Stem Cell Sciences plc (AIM:STEM, ASX:STC), a company focused on the commercialisation of stem cells and stem cell technologies, announces that it has entered into an agreement with CHDI Foundation, Inc., to support the standardisation of CHDI's novel mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines. CHDI is a US non-profit organisation pursuing treatments for Huntington's disease (HD). The cell lines have been produced over a period of several years under varying conditions, and conversion to a standard methodology is expected to facilitate their use in HD-related research towards the development of new HD drugs and diagnostics.

CHDI and its collaborators have developed a unique series of 20 ES cell lines from genetically modified mouse models that mimic aspects of Huntington's disease. These cell lines and mouse models represent an important tool for medical researchers to use in a wide variety of research programmes in HD, a genetic neurological disorder affecting 7 in 100,000 people. High-quality mouse ES cells are expected to be important and valuable for drug target validation and drug screening efforts.

Under the service agreement announced today, SCS will create standard culture conditions for CHDI's mouse ES cell lines using its serum-free and feeder-free ESGRO Complete(TM) media. Financial terms have not been disclosed. Initially, SCS will convert three cell lines to the standardised culture conditions and will monitor their viability and stability during this process. If successful, the Company may have the opportunity to apply its proprietary technologies across the entire range of CHDI's mouse ES cell lines, as well as providing the Foundation and researchers with media and reagents for future programmes.

"Switching these cell lines to ESGRO Complete(TM) media will allow researchers around the world to apply uniform medi
'/>"/>