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Australian Scientist, NRI Kuldip Sidhu has won the "2007 Top Invention Prize"
Sydney, Australia, June 28 2007 NRI Dr. Kuldip Sidhu, a well known Scientist in stem cell research has won the "2007 Top Invention Prize" by BioMed North Limited. BioMed North Limited is a health intellectual property commercialisation agency which works with and looks after the business interests of hospitals within New South Wales Area Health Services in Australia. Dr. Kuldip Sidhu said: A UNSW researcher based at the Diabetes Transplant Unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital has produced a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) line without the use of any animal products. The breakthrough eliminates the risk of animal-to-human contamination in potential stem cell therapy treatments. In another first, the Prince of Wales Hospital is the first public institution in the country to extract stem cells from human embryos produced using IVF in infertile couples. "This is the first hESC line produced in Australia and only the second one in the world, which does not use animals in any way. Our line grows on human fetal fibroblast feeder layer that does not require fetal calf serum," said UNSW Senior Lecturer, Dr Kuldip Sidhu, who was the scientist responsible for the creation of the line. "Other researchers have used animal tissue to keep the hESC alive in the petri dish or as a culture to grow it on. Those animal products have the potential to transmit retroviruses in humans, which could have disastrous consequences. Human embryonic stem cell lines are derived from specialized cells from embryos donated by infertile couples that specifically consented for their excess embryos to be used in stem cell research. These lines could eventually lead to safer treatments for conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury and even breast cancer. "My research has great relevance for India, which has high incidence of diabetes in the population. We organise a training programme on stem cell biology once or twice a year and scientists from across the world come and train in my laboratory. I am looking forward to Indians participating in it." "We have the licence to use 100 embryos to make six lines. We will endeavour to take the IPs to the next level - commercialisation - with the primary aim of better care for patients. ---------- UNSW Professor Bernie Tuch, Director of the DTU said, "The new line, named 'Endeavour 1', is only the fifth human embryonic stem cell line to be produced in Australia," said . "We now hope to collaborate with other researchers, using this line. We will also make it available to other researchers for their own work."
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NRI Kuldip Sidhu has won the "2007 Top Invention Prize" We developed a system of in-vitro fertilisation for brush-tailed possums for the first time
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