First fellowships awarded in new Canadian stem cell and regenerative medicine research program

“See The Potential” program sponsored by Canada’s Stem Cell Network and
Pfizer

MONTRÉAL, May 2, 2012 /CNW/ – The first two postdoctoral research
fellowships of a new program to promote stem cell research in Canada
were announced today by the program’s sponsors, Canada’s Stem Cell
Network and Pfizer.

“See The Potential” is a program established to encourage the work of promising young
scientists in the field of stem cell and regenerative medicine
research. Under the program, six postdoctoral fellowships will be
funded from competitions over the next three years. Fellows will receive a grant of $50,000 per year for up to three years and will
conduct two years of stem cell and regenerative medicine research at a
recognized research laboratory in Canada as well as another year of
research at the Pfizer Neusentis laboratories in the United Kingdom.

The 2011 fellowship recipients that have just been announced, following
an internationally publicized competition, are Dr. Corinne Hoesli from
Laval University in Québec City and Dr. Reaz Vawda from University
Health Network in Toronto. Dr. Hoesli proposes to conduct research
related to engineering artificial blood vessels and is speaking today
at the Till and McCulloch Meetings in Montréal about the program and
her research strategies. The research specialty of Dr. Vawda is
comparative investigations on the therapeutic repair function of
mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of spinal cord injury.

“We are very pleased to name these first recipients of the See The Potential postdoctoral fellowships in partnership with Pfizer Inc,” said Dr.
Verna Skanes, Chair of the Board of the Stem Cell Network. “This
program is an exciting way to provide young researchers with the
opportunity to develop their research efforts and their careers while
building important collaborations for the future with other researchers
connected to the Stem Cell Network and, internationally, through Pfizer
network. This is exactly the type of collaboration with industry that
is the hallmark of translational research and one that can provide
benefits to all involved.”

Half the program is funded by the Stem Cell Network and other half
shared by Pfizer.

“This is an excellent initiative aligned with the Pfizer Neusentis’
mission to develop innovative cell therapies to benefit patients
through research and development, clinical and business innovation,”
said academic liaison, Dr. Tim Allsopp, Head of External Research for
the Regenerative Medicine activities at Pfizer Neusentis Ltd. “We
congratulate our winners and look forward to witnessing the results of
their important research.”

The second See The Potential fellowship competition is now open with an application deadline set for
June 26, 2012. For more information on the competition please visit www.seethepotential.ca

Canada’s Stem Cell Network

The Stem Cell Network, established in 2001, brings together more than
100 leading scientists, clinicians, engineers, and ethicists from
universities and hospitals across Canada. The Network supports
cutting-edge projects that translate research discoveries into new and
better treatments for millions of patients in Canada and around the
world. Hosted by the University of Ottawa, the Stem Cell Network is one
of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence funded through Industry
Canada and its three granting councils. www.stemcellnetwork.ca

SOURCE Stem Cell Network