Cell Control in a Petri Dish (CCPD) Collaborative Network

The human body is made up of tissues and organs that are themselves made up of smaller components known as cells. Changes in these cell populations influence how they function and can result in the tissue becoming diseased or affecting how well it repairs and regenerates. We can isolate these cells from the body, grow them in a Petri dish in the laboratory and use them to study disease and the regenerative process. In addition, we can use them to screen new drugs to see how they are effective they are and confirm that they do not damage other tissues (such as the liver). Over the years, chemists have been designing and making small molecules primarily as new drugs to treat diseased cells but recent research has suggested that we can use these molecules in the laboratory to make normal cells diseased or to influence cell populations involved in the repair process known as stem cells. By doing this, we will be able to understand the cell in much greater detail and this knowledge will undoubtedly lead to better treatments in the future. To do this though, we need cell biologists and chemists, who are often based in separate departments and buildings and may not even know each other, to work more closely together. The aim of this network is to bring these scientists together, along with people based in industry, and create an environment for discussion and to encourage them to embark on this new research area to better understand how small molecules can influence cell function.

The central theme and vision of the CCPD Collaborative Network is to develop innovative methods for identifying and exploiting small molecules to direct cellular control in a Petri dish. The unique feature of our mission is to ensure commercialisation pathways are mapped early in the discovery initiatives, which will be achieved in close collaboration with end-user partners. Thus, we anticipate the CCPD Network will make substantial impact in multiple research and business landscapes, by:
1. Accelerating and building our knowledge of disease processes.
2. Accelerating and building our knowledge of stem cell biology and ability to control the differentiation pathway.
3. Building tools for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry by generating robust and standardised cell-based toxicology screens.
4. Ensuring UK is a world leader in this area by creating a critical mass of scientists to acheive this and disseminating to a global audience.
5. Enhancing multi- and cross-disciplinary research efforts within the UK leading to further research proposals, both nationally and internationally.
6. Supporting the development and expansion of UK based SME's by providing them a forum to tap into expertise not currently available within the company.
7. Generating new IP, giving the UK a competitive market advantage.

We have also outlined a long-term strategy for the CCPD Collaborative Network, by not only expanding academic membership, but also buy-in routes for industrial end-users. In the long term, we anticipate the mission and vision of the CCPD Network would:
1. Lead to novel disease targets being identified and therefore inform design of new drug molecules.
2. Enhance our ability to control stem cell differentiation and accelerate cell therapies to the market (by making it easier to conform to regulatory requirements, making it cheaper to produce required cell types, and to scale-up production of cell types of interest).