LOS ANGELES– CHA Medical & Bio Group, a global leader in stem cell research based in South Korea, announced its plan to establish the CHA Power Aging Research Translational Institute (CHA PARTI) in Los Angeles. The institute will focus on advancing comprehensive stem cell treatments through stem cell and gene therapy.
CHA PARTI, a collaborative research institute involving CHA Biotech, CHA University, and CHA Medical & Bio Group is scheduled to open later this year. The facility is GMP-equivalent, equipped with a state-of-the-art micro-manipulator for the establishment of somatic cell nuclear transfer of embryonic stem cells (NT-ESCs). It also features cell culture facilities in a sterile clean laboratory (Class 100 cleanroom, ISO5). The institute will house five resident researchers dedicated to the establishment of NT-ESCs and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and gene editing research using established stem cell. The research will be conducted in consultation with Shoukhrat Mitalipov Ph.D. from Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), who also serves as an advisory professor at CHA University. Additionally, the CHA Bio Complex, Korea’s largest biomedical/research organization with 1,000 researchers, will also contribute to the advancements in stem cell research done by CHA PARTI.
The institute plans to utilize its robust bio & medical network, spanning from research and development to commercialization. Matica Biotech, a subsidiary of CHA Biotech, opened a cell and gene therapy CDMO facility last year in Texas and will produce stem cell-based therapies for the clinical trial. CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, a nationally recognized acute care facility, will be a site of stem cell therapy clinical trials and eventually administer them for patient treatment once approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
CHA Medical & Bio Group has been at the forefront of stem cell research and gained global recognition for these innovative efforts. Their achievement includes the world’s first embryonic stem cell lines using adult somatic cells (NT-ESCs), obtaining clinical approval for Korea’s first age related-macular degeneration using retinal pigmentation epithelium differentiated from ESCs, and NT-ESCs which had never been done before. They have also treated cerebral palsy using cord blood stem cells from other individuals for the first time in history and reported the world’s first clinical treatment of Parkinson’s disease using cultured precursor cells derived from fetal midbrain.
In 2019, CHA Biotech and CHA University Medical Center jointly applied for a patent to establish NT-ESC lines using somatic cells (HLA homozygosity) with low immune rejection, along with long-term storage technology.
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent cells, which can be differentiated into any type of human cell, offering the potential for regeneration of diseased or damaged tissue. CHA Medical & Bio Group developed the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) technology enabling the generation of embryonic stem cells with reduced immune rejection and ensuring their safe storage. Professor of CHA University Eunju Kang, Vice President of CHA PARTI, stated, “Our goal is to establish seed embryonic stem cells for various cell therapies using our expertise but also to develop platform technologies for rejuvenation and longevity.”
