Stemgent

Stemgent is an American privately funded biotech company focused on providing reagents and technology developed by some of the world's leading stem cell scientists. Founded in 2008, Stemgent has two fully operational facilities in both San Diego, California and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Stemgent currently has 40 employees. The company is designed to serve researchers who study stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and those who use cells derived from stem cells as tools to advance their understanding of major diseases.

History

2008 milestones

The first Stemgent office opened in Cambridge, MA in February 2008. The San Diego facility opened in April of that year.

2009 milestones

In November 2009, Sigma Aldrich and Stemgent signed a worldwide distribution agreement to offer lentivirus-based delivery systems for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).

Stemgent ranked as one of the top 25 up and coming biotech companies.

2010 milestones

In early 2010, Stemgent launched custom cell line generation services providing companies in iPS cell line generation engineer reporter cell lines, and characterized pluripotent iPS or ES cells. In March 2010, Stemgent launched Ubiquigent Ltd, a new biotechnology company based in Dundee, Scotland. Ubiquigent produces technology that focuses on the biology of the ubiquitin proteasome pathway (UPP). Ubiquigent is housed by the Scottish Institute for ceLL Signalling (SCILLS) at the University of Dundee and is co-founded by Professor Sir Philip Cohen. In April 2010, Stemgent and Pfizer sign collaboration and research licensing agreement that will lead to certain research reagents developed or discovered by Pfizer being made available to the global research community. May 2010, Stemgent and Miltenyi Biotec announced a strategic collaboration for co-development and commercialization of stem cell research products. Milltenyi Biotec supports worldwide marketing and sales of Stemgent’s current product portfolio. In September 2010, Stemgent held the first commercially available iPS training course at the National Institute of Health facility. In the wake of the courses' success, Stemgent planned three additional courses for the 2010 calendar year. On December 7–10th Stemgent’s first human iPS training course will be held at the San Diego facility to a full class, including students from Japan and Thailand.

2011 milestones

In 2011, Stemgent launched their mRNA reprogramming product line. The mRNA reprogramming factors set was first available in March 2011, followed by the launch of the Pluriton Reprogramming medium in June 2011 . In October 2011, Stemgent launched the reprogramming kit. The kit components are qualified together for reprogramming and consists of the reprogramming factors set, Pluriton Reprogramming medium, and B18R human recombinant protein (credit EBioscience, Inc.)

In January 2011, Stemgent launched "StemgentTv" on YouTube. Over the course of 3–4 months, Stemgent added 15 video protocols to support current products and helpful user techniques. In addition, in June 2011 Stemgent released an exclusive interview with Rudolf Jaensich, who discussed the future cellular reprogramming.

In August 2011, Stemgent held the first mRNA reprogramming training course at their San Diego facility. In the wake of its success, the mRNA course was added to the list training courses held year round at Stemgent. In December 2011 in collaboration with the University of Sheffield Centre for Stem Cell Biology, Stemgent held their first international training course in mRNA reprogramming.

In November 2011, Stemgent was nominated for a Life Science Industry Award (LSIA) in the "Breakthrough Product for Stem Cell Research" category.

Products

Focus

Stemgent currently sells over 220 products for stem cell research. Stemgent products are developed with the aim to be both cutting edge and novel while also timely and easy to use. Many Stemgent products are provided in kit form to build complete experiments.

Key products
  • Stemedia NutriStem XF/FF Culture Medium: xeno free/feeder free, low growth factor human embryonic stem (ES) and induced plutipotent stem (iPS) cell culture medium that enables maintenance and expansion of pluripotent stem cells
  • Stemedia WIT-P Culture Medium:for the robust culture of human breast primary epithelial cells
  • Stemedia WIT-I Culture Medium: for the robust culture of human immortalized mammary epithelial cells
  • Stemedia WIT-T Culture Medium: for the culture of transformed human mammary epithelial cells
  • Stemfect 2.0-mESC DNA Transfection Reagent:polymer base transfection reagent for in vitro DNA transfection of mouse embryonic cells
  • Stemfect DNA Plasmid Transfection Polymer: polymer specifically designed to transfect stem cells
  • Stemfect RNA Transfection Kit: a proprietary mixture of lipid components is specifically designed for in vitro RNA transfection.
  • Stemgent mRNA Reprogramming Factors Set: hOKSML: contains mRNA encoding Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, c-Myc, Lin-28, and nuclear GFP (nGFP).
  • Stemgent mRNA reprogramming kit : Full mRNA reprogramming kit which include the factors set, Pluriton Reprogramming medium, and B18R human recombinant protein (credit * EBioscience, Inc.)
  • Pluriton Reprogramming Medium :defined, xeno-free medium optimized for mRNA based cellular reprogramming of human cells.

Collaborations

Scientific advisory board
  • Daniel Anderson, Ph.D, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  • Robert Langer, Sc.D, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  • Alan Colman, Ph.D, Singapore Stem Cell Consortium
  • Lee Rubin, Ph.D, Harvard Stem Cell Institute

References
  1. Warren, L. et al. (2010) Highly Efficient Reprogramming to Pluripotency and Directed Differentiation of Human Cells with Synthetic Modified mRNA Cell Stem Cell. Published online before print September 30, 2010.
  2. Wu D, Hamilton B, Martin C, Gao Y, Ye M, Yao S (2009). Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells by Reprogramming Human Fibroblasts with the Stemgent Human TF Lentivirus Set. J Vis Exp. 34. http://www.jove.com/index/details.stp?id=1553, doi:10.3791/1553
  3. Stemgent forms Ubiquigent - PR NewsWire
  4. GEN
  5. Pfizer & Stemgent Collaboration Announcement
  6. Biocompare.com - Stemgent featured in article on stem cell research December 2010
  7. Sigma and Stemgent sign distribution pact - GenomeWeb Daily News
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