As executive director of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund, Ruchika Nijhara has seen the program’s work literally change lives, including the life of a 4-year old patient.

This patient suffered from a rare genetic disease that caused his immune cells to not work properly. Between constantly getting pneumonia and coming in to receive interferon gamma shots, he spent a significant amount of his childhood in the hospital. His health was always in question before the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) helped alter the course of his life.

The MSCRF is an independent program within TEDCO created to promote state-funded human stem cell research and medical treatments through grants to public and private entities in Maryland. It focuses on identifying and fostering cutting-edge research and innovation in the field of regenerative medicine.

That’s exactly what the young patient needed. He was treated at Johns Hopkins University by Heather Symons and was cured at 10-years old. Now, he’s 16 and participating in the STEM field himself.

“This is what the potential of this field is, and our state has always been a leader in life sciences,” Nijhara said. “We still can’t match our funding to what California provides, but whatever we provide has not only shown significant economic impact, but the non-monetary value of our funding is innumerous.”

The program was initiated back in 2006, when Sen. Paula Hollinger introduced a bill that aimed to boost funding for embryonic stem cell research. As first proposed, it would’ve allowed research on human embryos otherwise discarded from fertility clinics, but several critics countered that the proposal was akin to abortion.

Even if the bill were to pass, it was unclear if then-Gov. Robert Erlich would sign it. So, Hollinger tweaked the bill’s language to provide funding for various kinds of adult stem cell research. While the adult cells are not considered as promising for research purposes, they are less controversial. The approval of this bill led to the establishment of the MSCRF under the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006.

$200+ million to help patients and strengthen the region

Part of the goal of the MSCRF is to foster economic development in the region, according to Nijhara.

“We don’t want the money to go out [of Maryland],” she said. “We want to promote economic development in the state. We want to build collaborations and a stronger ecosystem in the state while at the same time making sure that we stay committed to our mission, which is to advance the field to reach patients through curative treatments.”

When the fund first launched in 2007, it offered two grants, both primarily targeted toward academic research. In 2017, the MSCRF expanded to include six grant programs, allowing the fund to offer support for clinical trials and help companies secure research sites within the state.

With the launch of the Manufacturing Assistance Program in 2023, the MSCRF now offers seven grant programs — Launch, Discovery, Validation, Commercialization, Clinical, Post-doctoral Fellowships and Manufacturing Assistance — all to accelerate research and commercialization of human stem cell-based technologies.

These grants help scientists, companies and research organizations accelerate and advance the commercialization of innovative stem cell technologies for a positive impact on human lives.

For instance, one MSCRF grant funded research for an innovative technique developed at Johns Hopkins that allows sickle cell anemia patients who don’t have the exact genetic makeup in the family to get a transplant, even when they only have half a match.

“Through MSCRF, the Maryland life sciences ecosystem continues to expand, building a community of research and collaboration across the public private sectors,” said Troy LeMaile-Stovall, TEDCO CEO. “The work that Ruchika and her team do every day leads to a better Maryland, while also promoting hope, enabling cures and building the resources for a better tomorrow.”

To date, the MSCRF has allocated $208 million in funding to 600 research projects and 41 different entities within the state such as companies, academic institutions, nonprofits and other organizations. In addition to Johns Hopkins, this includes big players like the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Lieber Institute of Brain and the entire university system of Maryland. An impressive 75% of the companies the fund has supported since its inception are still in existence.

The fund’s mission remains to develop new medical strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of human diseases, injuries and conditions through human stem cells.

Accelerating research with targeted investments 

This mission is why the MSCRF invests in unique companies like RoosterBio. Founded in 2013, RoosterBio provides standardized, scalable stem cell products and biomanufacturing solutions to support regenerative medicine, cell therapy and tissue engineering.

RoosterBio accelerates human mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (hMSC) and exosome/extracellular vesicle (EV) product and process development to boost the implementation of scalable advanced therapies.

“We’re helping to de-risk the industry because people can now test out their product concepts at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time,” said Jon Rowley, founder and chief product officer of the company.

Over the past decade, the MSCRF has invested $1.89 million in RoosterBio through four grants. This investment has resulted in a near 40x return to the state, as RoosterBio has brought in $25 million in venture capital funding and more than $50 million in revenues over that span.

While the MSCRF’s impact within the state is evident, one underrated benefit of the program is its ability to boost Maryland’s external connections.

Last year, the MSCRF opened its doors to companies outside of Maryland, as long as the research conducted was done within the state.

“The MSCRF has been extremely successful in bringing visibility to the great research and opportunities we have here in the state,” said LeMaile-Stovall. “We must learn how to fail fast, pivot faster and relaunch the next version even faster. That’s part of the scientific process, to try, experiment, learn and retry again. This is all part of both the innovation and entrepreneurial process.”

This eagerness to try different things will be critical as we continue to explore stem cell product development.

“We’re only just starting to scratch the surface on knowing how to get these products developed that they work after they’ve been manufactured at scale and then onto the market,” Rowley said.

Source: Technical.ly