Bringing stem cell therapy research from lab to bedside and market faces many challenges ranging from ethical and religious controversial, healthcare regulation, high standard bio-manufacturing to patient affordability or insurance reimbursement. Taking all these points into consideration, it appears that stem cells derived from human umbilical cord membrane tissue namely Cord Lining Epithelial Stem Cells (CL-EpiSC) and Cord Lining Mesenchymal Stem Cells (CLMSC) are the ideal source of stem cells that can make translational stem cell therapy happen in reality. Every month, tens of thousands of umbilical cord tissue units are collected and cryopreserved in the US, EU and Asia together with cord blood for future use as the source of autologous and allogenic stem cell transplant . With regards of allogenic stem cell therapy, freely donated umbilical cord tissue samples are easily and inexpensively collected and qualified in the Colorado Cord Blood Bank. With billions of stem cells isolated from a single cord membrane tissue at low passages in FDA-licensed GMP Stem Cell Facility in Colorado and Roslin Cell Therapy in Scotland, the cost of Cord Lining Epithelial Stem Cells (CL-EpiSC) and Cord Lining Mesenchymal Stem Cells (CLMSC) products can be potentially lower and make more affordable to healthcare receivers.
Translational stem cell therapy is an expensive game and highly capital intensive. To keep it sustainable and make it profitable is another big challenge. Over 30 mins of presentation and discussion, the author will share with audience his story to make CellResearch Corp become a most successful stem cell biotech company in Singapore and the region.
A graduate of the Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam in 1991, Dr Phan has had a strong interest in wound healing since the earliest days of his medical and scientific career. His interest led him to hands-on experience during his four-year surgical residency in Hanoi at the National Burns Centre and at the Department of Trauma Surgery, Military Hospital 103.
Dr. Phan’s commitment and excellence in laboratory research was proven when he spent two years at the prestigious Wound Healing Institute and Department of Dermatology in Oxford, England.
He arrived in Singapore in 1997 to join the Department of Plastic Surgery at the Singapore General Hospital. In 1998, he met Dr Ivor Lim, and together they established the Wound Healing and Stem Cell Research Group focusing on skin and keloid scar biology. The Wound Healing and Stem Cell Research Group was the first group in the world to explore the role of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions in keloid pathogenesis and is recognised today as one of the world leading groups in keloid and scar biology research.
Prior to taking up his faculty position at the Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, Dr. Phan completed two years of post-doctoral research at the Stanford University Institute for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine
As a successful academic researcher and entrepreneur, Dr. Phan is author of more than 80 publications in international peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters, has more than 80 granted patents and founder of multiple successful biotech and healthcare companies in Singapore and Vietnam. His recent innovative research work is the discovery of a novel source of stem cells from the umbilical cord lining membrane with translational potential for regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and cell-based therapy.
