Cambridge stem cell innovator, Stem Cell Sciences (SCS) has announced two deals for its world beating technology, one a licence, the other an international services contract.

An unnamed provider of genetically modified rat and mouse models for medical and pharma research will pay £480k over six years under an non-exclusive licence deal for SCS’ IRES technology for use in its own R & D activities.

The IRES (Internal Ribosome Entry Site) technology enables researchers to monitor the activity of a particular gene of interest in living cells or tissues without blocking the normal function of the gene and serves to evaluate the success of gene knock-outs or knock-ins in stem cells, which is crucial for the successful creation of transgenic mouse and rat disease models.

SCS has also entered into a services agreement with Huntington’s disease research group, CHDI foundation Inc, to support the standardisation of the US non-profit group’s novel mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell lines.

The cell lines have been produced over a period of several years under varying conditions, and conversion to a standard methodology is expected to facilitate their use in HD-related research towards the development of new HD drugs and diagnostics.