Regenerative Medicine

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

Welcome to a stimulating ecosystem in WEST SWEDEN At the forefront

West Sweden, with the city of Göteborg at its centre, continues to regenerate and is now the most dynamic growth region in Sweden.

West Sweden is the gateway to Scandinavia. With its strategically central location and proud trading heritage, the region has traditionally brought people together. This has led to an open, friendly and welcoming character, based on curiosity and mutual respect.

Innovation has flourished. The region has nurtured global automotive giants Volvo Cars and AB Volvo. Engineering powerhouse, SKF, calls the region home. The region is nicknamed Telematics Valley. And several of the world’s most well-known medicines were developed in West Sweden.

With expertise in biomedicine and world-class universities and hospitals all located very close to each other, West Sweden is now at the forefront of clinical and translational medicine in Scandinavia. The region is one of the leading centres for clinical studies and research.

West Sweden

• Sweden’s second largest region. • The largest port in the Nordic region. • 1.6 million inhabitants. • World-leading companies, including AstraZeneca, Cochlear Anchored Solutions, Mölnlycke Health Care, Getinge Group, SKF, Volvo, Dentsply, Vitrolife and SCA. • Employs approx. 20 % of Sweden’s life science industry in over 600 companies. • World-leading hospitals & universities, including University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology and Sahlgrenska University Hospital (the largest healthcare unit and emergency care hospital in the Nordics)

Front cover: Starfish are plentiful in the Gothenburg archipelago. Some species have the ability to regenerate their whole body from a single arm.

2 Well-established infrastructure

Seaweed is rich in minerals, vitamins and amino acids. It has inspired botanical, industrial and pharmaceutical interest, including studies investigating potential regenerative properties.

Well-established and shared infrastructure between industry, academia and the health care system - combined with the availability of a well-educated workforce - creates a fantastic environment for small and large companies interested in making West Sweden a destination for life sciences research and development.

»» Cell and Tissue Laboratory at Sahlgrenska from haploidentical donors and virus-specific T-cells University Hospital (in progress)] are offered to the clinicians. The Cell and Tissue Laboratory is a GMP grade cell http://bit.ly/2kSiQYf culture facility located in the Department of Clinical Chemistry, at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. »» Stem Cell Biobank at The Queen Silvia’s It operates as a licensed tissue establishment, Hospital for Children handling cells and tissues for transplantation. The The Stem Cell Transplantation Unit at The Queen facilities of the Cell and Tissue Laboratory received Silvias’s Hospital for Children is well known in a GMP certification from the Swedish Medical the rest of the world, and is accredited by IVO Products Agency in May, 2014. and JACIE. The unit performs approximately 20 stem cells transplantations per year and is »» Stem Cell Laboratory at the Department of one of the largest units for pediatric stem cell Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine transplantation in Sweden. Stem cell transplantation The Hematological Stem Cell Laboratory at the is a well-established treatment for children Department of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion with immunodeficiencies, metabolic diseases, Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, is hemoglopathies or cancer. The stem cell unit accredited (IVO and JACIE) as a tissue establishment perform transplantations in patients from all parts to utilize, process, freeze and store hematopoietic of Sweden. precursor cells from bone marrow and peripheral http://bit.ly/2kFtNBj blood for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The Swedish National Cord Blood Bank is housed in »» Transplant Institute at Sahlgrenska University the laboratory and is responsible for the processing and freezing of hematopoietic stem cells from Hospital umbilical cord blood. The latter is FACT accredited. The Transplant Institute at Sahlgrenska University Hospital provides specialized care to transplantation The laboratory has two C-classified clean rooms and patients in a modern building customized for organ besides processing buffy coats for transplantation, a and cell transplantation. The institute performs number of specialized cell products [CD34-enriched research in the areas of transplantation immunology stem cells, alpha/beta TCR+ T-cell depleted cells and new surgical methods as well as in cell and

Regenerative medicine in west Sweden 3 tissue transplantation for regenerative medicine. »» RISE Research Institutes of Sweden The institute is behind a number of pioneering The RISE Research Research Institute of Sweden transplantations like the first mother-to-daughter is a leading international institute for advanced womb transplant. applied research and development. The institute www2.sahlgrenska.se/su/transplantationscentrum offers state-of-the-art laboratories for advanced research and services within regenerative medicine, »» Sahlgrenska Biobank including biological safety and function evaluations in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo, cell and molecular There are approximately 600 biobanks in Sweden. biology, microbiology, 3D-bioprinting, biomechanics 125 of these are located in West Sweden. The and medical writing. SP’s laboratories are certified Sahlgrenska biobank is a competence center located according to the ISO 17025 quality standard and at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. The biobank also include a GLP approved cell laboratory. coordinates collection, handling, storage and traceability of the regional biobank samples, with www.ri.se/en the long-term goal and vision of supporting clinical research. »» BIOMATCELL VINN Excellence Center of

www.gothiaforum.com/sab Biomaterials and Cell Therapy BIOMATCELL is a national center, hosted »» 3D Bioprinting Center at Chalmers University by University of Gothenburg, gathering top of Technology researchers, clinical and industrial partners around the development of next generation The 3D Bioprinting Center at Chalmers University biomaterial and cell therapy products. This of Technology has equipment for printing cells and internationally recognised translational center has tissues that are needed for research, drug screening core competencies and state-of- the-art facilities and tissue engineering; and for evaluating tailor- allowing research and development in areas such as made biocompatible biomaterials, or bioinks, for 3D materials and surface characterization, biomaterial- bioprinting with living cells. cell interaction, cell-cell communication, stem cell http://bit.ly/2loi4nW differentiation and tissue regeneration, etc.

www.biomatcell.org.gu.se/english »» Gothia Forum Gothia Forum is a unit within Region Västra Götaland, that serves as a point-of-contact for clinical trials and research in West Sweden. The organization facilitates collaboration between industry, the healthcare sector and academia by offering Information, strategic development, legal and quality support to ensure efficient & effective clinical research. Gothia Forum also provides an overall perspective with regard to the available skills and resources available in approximately 20 hospitals in Region Västra Götaland.

www.gothiaforum.com

4 Pioneering research

Stem cell research is a growing and prioritised research field in West Sweden. Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potential to treat a wide range of diseases/conditions.

Wave power is a regenerative energy with great potential that is being researched throughout the world. In January 2016, the first 1MW wave power plant was connected to the national grid off the Swedish west coast.

Examples of research projects in West Sweden

Autologous chondrocyte transplantation Cornea regeneration (Charles Hansson, Ulf (Anders Lindahl) Stenevi)

The therapy aims to regenerate large area full Damage to the epithelium of the cornea can depth chondral defects in the articular cartilage. lead to blindness because the cornea becomes Autologous chondrocytes are harvested from cloudy and non-transparent. Transplantation healthy non-load bearing areas of cartilage of a healthy donated cornea often is the only and are expanded in cell culture at the Cell and possible treatment but there is a shortage Tissue Laboratory under GMP. The pioneering of donated corneas and a long queue for work in cartilage tissue engineering was transplantation. This research aims to performed in Gothenburg more than 20 years regenerate the damaged cornea by the use of ago and the technology referred to as ACI cultivated human embryonic stem cells. (Autologous chondrocyte implantation) today http://bit.ly/2lo6yss is spread worldwide with more than 36000 patients treated. http://bit.ly/2lfBEnH http://bit.ly/AnLiGU Uterus transplantation (Mats Brännström)

Autologous stem cell therapy to treat disc The uterus transplantation research project at degeneration (Helena Brisby) the University of Gothenburg, which started in 1999, has been evaluated in over 40 scientific Chronic back pain can be caused by articles. In 2012, the first mother-to-daughter degeneration of the intervertebral discs. The womb transplant was done, and in October patient’s own mesenchymal stem cells are 2014 it was announced that, for the first time, a harvested and expanded in cell culture. The healthy baby had been born. mesenchymal stem cells are then injected into the degenerated discs, where they are expected http://bit.ly/2lftCeB to integrate and to produce proteins that contribute to regeneration of the intervertebral discs. http://bit.ly/2lA5RhM

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Regenerative medicine in west Sweden 5 « Continues from previous page

SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden SkinResQU: Interdisciplinary center of (Benny Lyvén, Joakim Håkansson, Jim Lund) excellence for innovative experimental skin research. (Paul Gatenholm and Marica Collaborating with industry on tissue engineered veins and arteries based on de-recellularization Ericson) technology, SP is also coordinating a national The center started in 2010, and had its basis in a project aiming at the next generation test researcher-initiated network. systems based on technology from regenerative medicine. Another example is the Broken hearts Today, SkinResQU includes about 10-15 project that aims to develop a test system for senior researchers and their research groups. ischemia reperfusion models and other cardiac- SkinResQU’s role is to stimulate cooperation specific disease models. and coordinate large research applications. The Centre also assists and organizes major 3D printing of tissues and the development international conferences and meetings, and is of cellulose based scaffolds for tissue active in education both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. One of the projects engineering. (Paul Gatenholm) goals is to print human skin that can be used Paul Gatenholm, professor in Polymer TA for transplants or as a model for testing new group of researchers at Chalmers University products. of Technology have managed to print and http://bit.ly/2lEJp7Q dry three-dimensional objects made entirely by cellulose for the first time with the help Stem cell differentiation, neurodegeneration, of a 3D-bioprinter. They also added carbon and cancer cell migration (Annika Enejder) nanotubes to create electrically conductive material. The effect is that cellulose and other Enejder leads the group of Molecular Microscopy raw material based on wood will be able to with the goal to develop novel laser-based and compete with fossil-based plastics and metals in scanning-probe microscopy techniques (CARS, the on-going additive manufacturing revolution, SHG, Raman, 2P fluorescence, AFM) mapping which started with the introduction of the 3D distributions, surface topographies and 3D-printer. micromechanics of biomolecules in living cells and hydrated, soft materials/tissues without http://bit.ly/2kS9lZe exogenous label molecules. One of the projects is about the development of stem cell-based drug discovery assays targeting metabolic diseases

http://bit.ly/2lzUczE

6 Neural Stem Cell Interaction with Breast cancer research with focus on tumor Electrospun Micro- and Nanofibrous microenvironment and cancer stem cells Scaffolds Assisted with Patterned (Anders Ståhlberg and Göran Landberg) Nanostructures using Lab-on-Chip Platform We are particularly interested in understanding (Johan Liu and Julie Gold) cell fate mechanisms between cancer stem cells, expansion phase cells and senescent cells. In During recent years, three dimensional scaffolds collaboration, we are also studying other tumor manufactured via electrospinning technology entities and stem cells at the single-cell level. In have emerged within the scientific community as the short-term perspective, we expect that our a way to efficiently cultivate stem cells in an in research will reveal fundamental information vitro environment, closely resembling an in vivo about tumor origin, tumor cell diversity and environment. These scaffolds, acting as an extra deeper understanding of molecular mechanisms cellular matrix, may have a promising future in in sarcoma and breast cancer development neural tissue engineering. http://cancercenter.gu.se/research/anders- Today, the Department of Microtechnology stahlberg and Nanoscience at Chalmers University of Technology cooperates with Department of Neurology and Physiology at Gothenburg University on a joint project with the aim to investigate and develop cultivation of human neural stem cells on electrospun scaffo http://bit.ly/2m1VULt

Regenerative medicine in west Sweden 7 Robust investment support

Organisations that can provide expert advice and support when it comes to setting up or partnering in West Sweden.

Connect Sverige is Sweden’s largest investment Almi offers advisory services, loans and venture network with over 450 business angels and through all phases of the establishment of a investors. Connect Sweden provides innovative business - from idea to successful company. companies with grow capital by sharing This includes ideas with potential for growth in knowledge and creating meeting places for the early stages as well as existing companies entrepreneurs, industry experts and investors. that are investing in growth and expansion. Almi is owned by the Swedish government and www.connectsverige.se/vast/ is the parent company of a group consisting of 16 regional subsidiaries, Almi Invest AB and IFS Consulting AB. www.almi.se/English/ GU Ventures support the companies through a well-established incubation process which offers support for business development, market research, technological development and intellectual property strategy development as well as strategic, managerial, administrative and organizational support.

www.ventures.gu.se/ Business Region Göteborg works to create favourable conditions for trade and industry throughout the entire region by offering knowledge, contacts and arenas for collaboration. Business Region Göteborg is With just over 50,000 employees, the Region responsible for business development in the Västra Götaland is tasked with offering good City of Gothenburg and represents thirteen healthcare and dental care and providing the municipalities in the region. prerequisites for good public health, a rich www.businessregiongoteborg.se/en cultural life, a good environment, jobs, research, education and good communications. Together with its 49 municipalities, trade and industry, organisations and academia, Region Västra Götaland drives development with Västra Götaland’s best interests as its objective. Chalmers Ventrues task is to increase entrepreneurship and research utilization at http://www.vgregion.se/en/Vastra- Chalmers University of technology by providing Gotalandsregionen/Home/ specialist coaching, access to a worldwide network and financing to entreprenours and researchers. www.chalmersventures.com

8 Stimulating innovation

A number of organizations serve as a meeting place to facilitate networking and collaborative research. The combination of these makes Gothenburg one of the largest centres of excellence for research and development in bioscience and biomedicine in Northern Europe.

AstraZeneca established the BioVentureHub Vinnova promotes sustainable growth by in April 2014 as a collaborative innovation funding needs-driven research and stimulating ecosystem to strengthen competitiveness in collaborations between companies, universities, the Nordic life science industry. Embedded research institutes and the public sector. Some at the heart of AstraZeneca Gothenburg, the of their and calls are open to international and BioVentureHub is designed for emerging biotech bilateral collaborations. Vinnova is also the and medtech companies and academic groups. national contact agency for the EU framework It offers a unique opportunity to co-locate and program for research and innovation. interact with 2,500 dedicated and highly-skilled www.vinnova.se/en/ AstraZeneca professionals, as well as with each other. www.azbioventurehub.com

Region Västra Götaland’s innovation platform facilitates collaboration between industry, academia and healthcare by testing and In Sweden, the six healthcare regions verifying new solutions and innovations against collaborate to facilitate for industry and the needs of the healthcare sector. Our purpose academia to conduct clinical research. Each is to make the development and implementation region has established a coordinating center of new products and services in the healthcare offering professional resources. In region Västra area more effective for the benefit of our Götaland, Gothia Forum serves as a single patients. point of entry and helps find the appropriate https://innovationsplattformen.vgregion.se/ resources to successfully conduct clinical trials english in the region. We are a part of a large ecosystem including state-of-the-art infrastructure and cutting-edge life science research. www.gothiaforum.com/web/en

MedTech West is a network and collaborative platform for research, education, development and evaluation of new biomedical concepts and technologies. We initiate, facilitate and promote increased research collaboration between the Sahlgrenska Science Park is working to health care sector, industry and academia. Our strengthen the life science industry with a focus focus is on addressing actual clinical needs in on western Sweden. We offer expertise and collaboration with relevant clinical staff. experience on a commercial basis, together www.medtechwest.se with a large network in the business community and other life science stake holders. With sustainable health and with the human being in focus, we increase the prospects for business, academia and healthcare to cooperate. www.sahlgrenskasciencepark.com

Regenerative medicine in west Sweden 9 Innovative companies

In the 1990s, a project was started to regenerate Eriksberg from a decommissioned shipbuilding yard to a thriving part of the city of Gothenburg.

Examples of west Sweden-based companies that are developing innovative products and methods within the field of regenerative medicine.

Gothenburg is an attractive region for AstraZeneca with its close connections to many Nordic Universities and to top scientists in Europe. By being in the same area as Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Chalmers University of Technology and Göteborg University there is close access to important competencies and patient cohorts which are complementary to AstraZeneca’s own capabilities. AstraZeneca is pursuing several scientific approaches for cardiac regeneration.

www.astrazeneca.com/what-science-can-do/cardiac-regeneration. html

CELLINK is the first bioink company in the world and the leader in research and development of Bioprinting technologies. CELLINK provides a bioink that can universally be used on a wide range of 3D-Bioprinters, as well as on their cutting edge and most cost effective 3D-Bioprinter in the world.

www.cellink.com

Cline Scientific develops and sells novel products for stem cell and cancer research. The company has developed a novel surface technology with the purpose of revolutionizing cell research-, diagnostics- and therapy production.

www.clinescientific.com

10 Corline Pharma AB is a subsidiary to Corline Biomedical AB and part of the AstraZeneca Bioventure Hub. Corline develops heparin based pharma compounds targeting coagulation and innate immunity within the fields of transplantation, cell therapy and regenerative medicine. www.corline.se

Dentsply effort a product serie SYMBIOS (a solution for all regenerative needs). SYMBIOS consists a full range of bone graft materials, resorbable and non-resorbable membranes and instruments. SYMBIOS is designed for a wide range of dental surgery and implant needs. www.dentsplyimplants.se

Immunicum is a clinical phase II company that develops allogeneic dendritic cell based cancer immunotherapies. www.immunicum.se

Takara Bio Europe AB, formerly Cellartis AB, is focusing on stem cell-derived products and services for drug discovery, disease modelling, and applications within regenerative medicine. The company leverages long-standing experience in stem cell handling and scale up together with leading expertise in differentiation of cells into mature and functional human cells. Specifically, the company possesses broad expertise in human pluripotent stem cells, including both hiPSC and hESC and related media. Takara Bio Europe AB is located in state-of-the-art facilities in Göteborg, Sweden. www.clontech.com

Vitrolife is active world-wide in the field of assisted reproduction. Vitrolife´s product portfolio cover all the steps in an IVF journey, all the way from oocyte retrieval to transfer of the embryo. Vitrolife was founded based on research and clinical practice performed in the Göteborg area and has ever since benefitted from the knowledge generated in these fields in the region. www.vitrolife.com

XVIVO Perfusion is a global medical technology company focused on developing optimized solutions for organ, tissue and cell preservation and perfusion in connection with transplantation. The company is firmly rooted in medical science. The company has its headquarters in Göteborg and subsidiaries in Lund, Sweden and Denver, USA. www.xvivoperfusion.com

Regenerative medicine in west Sweden 11 A hermit crab can regenerate a missing limb when it molts. Each molt will restore a portion of the lost limb.

If you are interested in knowing more about what West Sweden has to offer when it comes to regenerative medicine, please contact:

Establishment opportunities Clinical research opportunities Business Region Göteborg Gothia Forum

Iris Öhrn Ann Novotny Tel. +46 (0)705-26 08 28 Tel. +46 (0)700-207905 E-mail [email protected] Email [email protected] www.businessregiongoteborg.com www.gothiaforum.com/web/en