A Madison-based research company is working in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin to bring the benefits of stem cell research to more people while advancing the field of medicine.

Jolene Rau, spokesperson for Cellular Dynamics International, said since the company’s founding in 2004 by Jamie Thompson, the intention has been to make stem cells more widely available to those in need through different institutions and companies.

“The hype is often way off in the future with what we can do in curing diseases or injuries, that type of thing,” Rau said. “[Thompson’s] idea was stem cells can affect human health care and medicine now, and he formed CDI with that intent.”

CDI manufactures induced pluripotent stem cells, or IPSCs, which are created from adult tissues and can be turned into any cell in the body, Rau said. She said currently, CDI has developed heart and nerve cells but has not yet fully launched its creation of liver cells.

She said most of the institutions interested in obtaining these stem cells are pharmaceutical companies, which can use the stem cells in testing experimental drugs.

“Eventually they get into clinical trials where the drugs are tested on humans,” Rau said. “They take cells from human cadavers or immortalized cells – cancer cells that proliferate indefinitely – but these do not show true human biology. You’re using proxies.”

She said pharmaceutical drugs have in the past been found to have safety issues only after they get very far down the line of testing and are released on the market.

Rau said by using stem cells that can be made “brand new” at any time, it is possible for pharmaceutical companies to catch deficiencies early while posing less risk.

Craig January, co-founder of CDI, said he became involved with the company because of his experience with cardiac biology, as CDI’s first products were heart cells.

“UW is one of the premier institutions of the country in the whole development of stem cell biology,” January said. “This research began with Jamie Thompson and has made big contributions nationally and worldwide.”

January said interest in commercializing stem cell biology came from an agreement with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

WARF spokesperson Janet Kelly said in an email to The Badger Herald several stem cell companies have disclosed license agreements with WARF, including CDI, Pfizer and others.

“Many of our licensees have been successful in marketing stem cells as research tools, but the FDA has not approved stem cell therapies for use in humans,” Kelly said. “Drugs can now be tested at the cellular level using human stem cells rather than on a patient or relying on results from animal testing.”

She said the use of stem cells for drug testing can decrease dependence on animal testing, as well as improving the results in predicting effects of drugs on humans.

Rau said CDI has industrialized the manufacture of human cells, which is beneficial to researchers who need large quantities of pure and consistent cells to conduct their research with the least errors possible.

“The study of stem cells allows us to understand the beginnings of our biology, and this knowledge may one day help us in preventing disease before it happens, in addition to potentially treating or curing the disease,” Kelly said.