Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC)

The Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) is Australia's premier stem cell research organisation.  The ASCC is focused on developing promising stem cell research through the use of both adult and embryonic stem cells to improve the lives of people suffering from degenerative disease and injury, predominantly in the field of haematology.

www.stemcellcentre.edu.au

The Australian Stem Cell Centre is a major Australian collaborative initiative uniting many of the country's leading academic researchers with the biotechnology industry to develop innovative therapeutic products to treat a range of serious injuries and debilitating diseases.


The Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) commenced operation in 2003, in partnership with nine leading Australian research institutes and universities.

The ASCC’s principal objective is to integrate a national multi-institution research and discovery program to develop treatments for serious diseases through the application of stem cells and related technologies. A core role of the ASCC is to attract and secure commercial partners to advance outstanding research outcomes towards clinical trials initially, and eventually into the hands of medical practitioners for the benefit of their patients.

Complementary to these goals, the ASCC proactively works to enhance the public’s awareness and understanding of stem cell and regenerative research. The ASCC also provides educational opportunities to research students and post doctoral research scientists, facilitating a growth in human resources with experience and links to international stem cell networks and institutes.

The ASCC is committed to the highest scientific and commercial ethical principles. All projects and people funded by the Centre must also operate within the law. Commonwealth and state legislation draw clear boundaries regarding lawful and unlawful scientific practice relating to embryo research and cloning technology in Australia.

Finally, the ASCC has also adopted best business practice guidelines to ensure all of its documentation, processes, project management and commercial activities are of the highest standard.


At the heart of the Centre's research strategy is the goal of building integrated national research programs that draw upon complementary world-class skills to accelerate the delivery of stem cell technologies and therapeutic products.


The Australian Stem Cell Centre aims to bring together the best stem cell research and researchers to form co-ordinated, multi-disciplinary teams in development pipelines focused on addressing key therapeutic areas of interest.

The key elements of the ASCC Research Strategy are Excellence, Strategy, Focus and Synergy. The pinnacle of these elements resides in the Therapeutic Programs. Therapeutic Programs represent aligned research projects, spanning basic and applied science, that work towards the delivery of short, medium and long term products of relevance to a particular disease area. The therapeutic programs are supported by fundamental stem cell research platforms. The fundamental stem cell platforms include adult and embryonic stem cell research. The platform technologies act as an ‘engine room’ for basic science and discovery across a broad range of stem cell related technologies and as such have relevance to a wide variety of human diseases. The increased understanding of stem cell biology that will flow from these platforms will grow the next therapeutic programs.

The other unique element of our Research Strategy is a partnership in research management where the ASCC supports the researchers to monitor progress and focus on outcomes.

The Australian Stem Cell Centre is continuing to grow at an extraordinary rate in terms of specialist infrastructure capabilities, expansion of scientific expertise within groups, collaborations with international laboratories and the introduction of post doctoral and PhD students into projects. Overall the Australian Stem Cell Centre undertakes and funds more than 20 major research projects and 270 Australian scientists and students across three states of Australia.

For more information on each of the ASCC research groups and a full list of their publications, please click on one of the link below:

Adult Lung Stem Cell Laboratory

Developmental Biology Laboratory

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Technology

Niche Laboratory

Stem Cell Expansion Laboratory

Tissue Repair