The opportunities from stem cell research

Lisa Raitt: Thank you for tuning in to the Raitt Stuff. I’m your host, Lisa Raitt. And in this podcast, I’m going to share insights on current hot topics in the areas of public policy, politics and business with some guests along the way. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the Raitt Stuff. We’re going to start off the series a little bit differently this time. Alzheimer’s comes in all kinds of different shapes and forms. Sometimes you’re on the caregiving side of it, sometimes you’re interested in the research side of it, and sometimes you are a family that’s just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. There’s lots of different topics you can think about when you’re thinking about Alzheimer’s, but of course, the one that always comes to mind is why is there no treatment and why is there no cure? There’s a whole lot of reasons for that, and we’re not really going to get into all of that today. But why I wanted to speak with today’s guest is because I believe that she represents a group, a network that actually may have some real potential in terms of Alzheimer’s and what we can do in order to at least find something that can modify this dastardly disease. Today, I am delighted to have with me a guest, Cate Murray, who is the President and CEO of the Stem Cell Network here in Canada. We’re going to talk about research and stem cells. But as always, I have the prerogative to ask any question that I want. And one of them is going to be around Alzheimer’s. So welcome, Cate, and thank you so much for being here with me today on the Raitt Stuff.

Cate Murray: Oh, it’s a real pleasure. I’m so excited about this conversation.

Lisa Raitt: So, you know, stem cells is a term that lots of Canadians know about for a whole bunch of reasons, but they’re not necessarily familiar with the real opportunities. It’s a term that’s used, but we really don’t know what it’s about. Can you give us just a little bit about an introduction to the Stem Cell Network and the opportunities that the technology can actually provide to us?

Cate Murray: Oh, absolutely. So stem cells are really the building blocks of the human body. They’re the first cells that we begin with, and they form into every other type of cell in the body. And along with all of our organs, right up to our hair. And so stem cells and the existence of stem cells was actually proven in the 1960s by James Till and Ernest McCulloch in Toronto, two Canadians. But us Canadians were too modest. So we don’t have the Nobel. Stem cells. Really. It’s a cross-cutting technology for treating disease, whether it’s a rare disease or a chronic disease, whether it’s illness or injury. And stem cells also happen to be the engine for a field we call regenerative medicine.

Lisa Raitt: So tell me a little bit. You said rare diseases, chronic illness, regenerative medicine. Can you give me an example of where stem cell therapy is being utilised today that people would know about?

Cate Murray: Do you know a fellow named Dominic LeBlanc?

Lisa Raitt: Absolutely.

Cate Murray: Dominic was in the news recently about his stem cell treatment. He had been given stem cells by a donor from Germany to fight his cancer. He had a really aggressive blood cancer. He would have died without that stem cell transplant. That’s how stem cells are most commonly being used today, is to fight diseases like blood cancers. But stem cells are also providing hope for other diseases and are being tested by our research community for things like diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, wound repair, blindness, cardiovascular disease, even for the treatment of COVID.

Lisa Raitt: Amazing. So that’s the beauty of the network then, right? You’re not just one organisation. You’ve got all kinds of different folks involved. So would this be research universities, individual hospitals? Who’s involved in the network itself?

Cate Murray: Oh, it’s a big wide network. So we are a network of researchers from across the country, whether they’re in a research hospital, whether they’re in a university, whether they’re associated with a charity or a foundation, there’s a broad swath. So we have all of the major research labs presented in the network. And the network started back in 2001 when everybody was somewhat siloed in their labs, in different universities and hospitals across the country. And then a 35 different researchers came together and said, let’s put a network together. They did. We now have over 230 or so labs that we support, and next week we’re bringing together over 500 trainees and researchers from across Canada and around the world. So it’s a big, wide community with clinicians and ethicists and and biologists and bioengineers.

Lisa Raitt: And what are you bringing them together for?

Cate Murray: This is our annual meeting. It’s called the Till McCulloch Meetings, and it’s a big science meeting and a trainee meeting, and it allows all of the the community to come together to talk about and share where the research is at, what’s making their hair turned grey. What’s getting them excited. And so we bring them together for about three days. This year we’re in Vancouver and it’ll be a really exciting meeting to catch up on where the science is going, and it always fuels new collaborations, new projects and lots of mentorships and jobs for our post-docs, our PhDs, our young researchers.

Lisa Raitt: Yeah, exactly. Okay, I’m going to come back to the economic side of it in a minute, but I wanted to tell you that on the weekends I actually read a book, a first person account from a woman in Ottawa who was a caregiver for her husband who had young onset Alzheimer’s. And in the book she detailed how after she was diagnosed, they went and sought stem cell treatment. Now they don’t have it in Canada. So she went to the US and she went to Mexico. But here’s the thing. I’ve never heard about that stuff before. It’s not something that was presented to me. Tell me a little bit about misinformation and those kinds of things that can be detrimental to science in terms of moving along. I mean, I know that there’s legitimate research and I know what the Alzheimer’s Association says about stem cell research, but we’re not there yet.

Cate Murray: No, we’re not there yet. Not on Alzheimer’s. There’s a global problem in misinformation around stem cells. And there is a giant market and a proliferation of clinics in this country who are offering unregulated, unproven stem cell treatments. What they’re actually doing is they’re taking advantage of the vulnerable. They will take some of your cells, maybe skin cells, maybe fat cells. They’ll put them into a little bioreactor, swish them around and then put them back into you and tell you that’s a stem cell therapy. Yeah, well, that’s just misinformation. And there’s great risk with that. It risks greater illness. Some people have ended up with tumours. In some cases there’s even been death. So it’s a real problem. Health Canada, the FDA, they’re on it, they’re aware, which is great. But misinformation is a big issue around stem cells. And in fact, when we look at the challenges that we’ve seen with COVID and around vaccines, and I think the pioneer of all of that misinformation was stem cells.

Lisa Raitt: Yeah, So I think that’s a really good point, too, Cate, that even though there is really good research going on in a lot of different areas, unless it is approved by Health Canada, FDA approved or has a stamp of approval from some other organisation, the reality is, is that there’s a lot of stuff in research. If you’d like to take part in a research program, find a way to become part of that test that’s going on, but not necessarily relying upon what you find on the Internet, which can be extraordinarily difficult for people in a vulnerable situation. Like you said, having just been diagnosed with with a chronic or fatal disease.

Cate Murray: The Internet is a great place to find a nice dress. It’s not a great place to find a medical diagnosis or cure.

Lisa Raitt: Yeah, I agree with you.

Cate Murray: And I know Alzheimer’s is an issue close to your heart. And I’ve heard your story and it touches me and it makes me cry, actually, quite honestly. So let me tell you about stem cells and Alzheimer’s. So we know and you know that there’s about 500,000 living with dementia in Canada, of which Alzheimer’s is is the most prevalent issue. Yeah, it’s expected to reach upwards of a million by the end of the decade. It’s an epidemic right along with cancer. Yeah. And the challenge with treating and understanding Alzheimer’s is we can’t really get into the brains of living patients. Yeah, exactly. So that’s hard to understand what’s going on with this disease. But stem cells offer a better way to study the disease and to screen for treatments. Right now, there’s maybe two or three drugs that are really the standard of care for Alzheimer’s, but there’s potential and hope for others and what we’re doing with stem cells. So, like, can I tell you a couple of stories?

Lisa Raitt: Yeah, please.

Cate Murray: Okay. All right. So out West, Stephanie Willerth, she’s at the University of Victoria, and she’s a bioengineer and she’s totally into 3D Bioprinting. So what she’s done is she’s partnered up with a clinician and he is able to get the adult skin cells from Alzheimer’s patients. They take those skin cells and the manipulate them back to sort of a novel state. She’s then able to 3D print this into neural tissue. Wow. From there you can screen drugs against that neural tissue and see exactly how that drug is going to work. What’s fascinating to me about this technique, as well as techniques where they do something similar but it’s in a petri dish instead of with neuro tissue, is that this leads us to potentially a personalised medicine down the road.

Lisa Raitt: Yeah.

Cate Murray: Now, this this isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s not tomorrow’s cure. It’s still in the lab. We’re not at the clinic yet. And I think that’s really important for people to understand. So it’s not going to be there for your family or mine, but I’m hopeful it will be for our grandchildren.

Lisa Raitt: Yeah. Amen to that. I agree with you. So that is a case of one person and a clinician. Tell me about Canadian companies. How are Canadian companies doing when it comes to biomanufacturing or utilising stem cell technology?

Cate Murray: Fantastic. So this this is a blossoming space. The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine in the out of the United States tracks what’s going on. Last year was the best year on record for raises in this space over 20 billion.

Lisa Raitt: Amazing.

Cate Murray: And that topped the year before which did hold the record that year. So the number of companies, the amount of investment it’s coming when we think about the life sciences overall. The top three are immuno oncology, cancer, regenerative medicine, which is stem cell for them, make it an easy connect. These are the areas that are going to drive our economy into the into the future. And so I know, you know, you’re part of this wonderful coalition with Anne McLellan, who is a force to be reckoned with and a former health minister. And the coalition you talk about economic prosperity and health. Well, guess what is at the core of economic prosperity? It’s our health. How many companies lost? How much productivity? And over the last number of years, and because of COVID, because of health solutions. So where does that take us back to? It takes us back to health research. It takes us back to the life sciences. It takes us back to the investors with the deep pockets who know that this is the place to put their bets.

Lisa Raitt: And the coalition that you kindly refer to is Coalition for a Better Future, which is a group of 131 organisations who are interested in making sure that we’re talking about long term growth, long term economic growth here in the country. And you’re right, I mean, productivity, look, if you talk to CEOs out there, they will tell you that their issue is having enough people that can do the jobs that they have, that where we’re really lacking in terms of the workforce. And if we can make sure that we’re keeping people in the workforce by helping them be healthier, that’s that’s a good outcome.

Cate Murray: It’s awesome outcome. And in fact, this is a role where the stem cell network comes to play. So not only do we fund research right through to clinical trials, but we train. We train the next generation. So we’re training those who are our globally competitive, skilled talent, who are starting up the biotech companies, who are joining companies like STEMCELL Technologies and BlueRock and others who are really driving forward and growing this sector. And and and so we at the Stem Cell Network, we work on making sure that they’ve got the right skills, whether those are career skills for working in industry or academia, or whether it’s the technical skills on how do I apply an automation approach to work I’m doing in my lab, or what is this 3D printing stuff and what do I do with it? So the Stem Cell Network, we’ve actually trained over 5000 since we came into existence, and I’m hoping by the end of the decade that number will be ten. 

Lisa Raitt: Amazing.

Cate Murray: Thousand.

Lisa Raitt: And not just ten. So who supports the stem cell network? Who’s the backer for all of this?

Cate Murray: So we are supported by the federal government. We started off way, way back in the day as a network of Centers of Excellence. Then in 2015 we graduated out of that program and the new government of the day came in and said, Look, we understand the value of this area and we’re going to continue to invest. And in 2021, in fact, they more than doubled our budget. So

Lisa Raitt: excellent.

Cate Murray: And wonderful. And and so we at the network then go out and leverage and match that funding. In fact, I’ve just gone through an exercise where we’ve had to raise in partner support 100 million, and we did that just with 20 partners.

Lisa Raitt: Holy mackerel. Good job.

Cate Murray: So imagine how much more.

Lisa Raitt: Amazing.

Cate Murray: I think when people are ready and willing to put their money on the table, you know, you’ve got a good bet in front of you.

Lisa Raitt: So it’s cross cutting. It’s not just one area of chronic illness, not one area of research. You can utilise it in all kinds of different areas and it is beneficial for our general growth in the economy because we started it here in Canada and we continue to work on it. Is that a fair way of summing it all up?

Cate Murray: Oh, you’re very good. That’s excellent.

Lisa Raitt: Well, you know what I think? I think it’s really important to shine light on really good news stories. You know, small organisations working away to yield great results in the country. So, Cate, I want to thank you so very much for joining me here today. Talk about stem cells, the application of it and the economic opportunities that are out there and actually the betterment of our country. So thanks for everything.

Cate Murray: Thank you, Lisa. I’ve really appreciate the opportunity.

Lisa Raitt: You bet. Thanks so much for tuning in. Now, if you have any questions or comments or even requests on topics to discuss, drop me a line at lisa.raitt@cibc.com. Your interactions actually will make this better. I’m your host, Lisa Raitt, and this has been the Raitt Stuff.

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