The world’s largest provider of dialysis services now has a new business: a regenerative medicine company. Frensenius Medical Care (Bad Homburg, Germany) has opened the doors of Unicyte AG, a subsidiary that will undertake research into kidney and liver diseases, diabetes, and cancer.
Fresenius’ primary partner in Unicyte is the Molecular Biology Center at the University of Turin in Italy. The center specifically focuses on the study of the molecular mechanisms underlying the physiopathological processes that result in cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, and cancer, as well as on the intricacies of stem cell biology. The research efforts are aimed at developing advanced molecular imaging technology and bioinformatic analysis, and generating mouse and zebrafish models.
Fresenius, which has collaborated with the University of Turin since 2003, says it will work with additional partners as needed to advance these projects. One of the first successes between the partners was the isolation and characterization of a human stem cell population from an adult liver.
