The Chennai based Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), an Indo-Japan joint venture institute exclusively for stem cell research, will sign an MoU with Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) on December 8, for clinical application of Cell Based Therapy (CBT) in animals.

The signing and exchanging of the agreement will be done by Dr V Purushothaman, director of Research, TANUVAS and Dr Samuel Abraham, director, NCRM in the presence of Kazuo Minagawa, the consul general of Japan, Chennai. Dr P Thangaraju, vice chancellor, TANUVAS will preside over the function.

Dr Samuel Abraham said both the institutes will propose to establish the current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) compliant stem cell facility exclusively for animals in the TANUVAS campus. After the agreement, the scientists of the Agricultural University will be trained by NCRM in stem cell research. He said this is the first such initiative in the country to provide stem cell based treatments to animals. The Japanese stem cell isolation and expansion technologies and nanotechnology will be employed to provide the treatment.

According to sources from the University, TANUVAS, the first Veterinary University in Asia with its 105 year old Madras Veterinary College Teaching Hospital, is now extending its services in the field of Regenerative Surgery apart from its outstanding contribution in the field of Veterinary Education, Clinical - Protocols, Research, and Extension activities. Both these institutes will jointly work to establish the possible therapeutic modalities especially for the crippling surgical conditions. This new clinical protocol will be extended in the first phase to the dogs with spinal cord injury and in horses with tendon and ligament injuries, informed sources said.

The director of the NCRM explained that with increased prevalence of diseases that require newer concepts in therapeutic modules, stem cell therapy and regenerative surgery would offer a promising future.

Stem Cell Research has wide application in surgical facilities for Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Cancer Therapy and Tissue and Organ Transplantation Techniques. The concept of cell based therapy increases in veterinary field due to less ethical issues and less immune mediated problems as the patients' own cells (autologous) are used for therapy, Dr. Samuel Abraham said.