On 15 May 2024 from 14:15 CET to 15:00 CET, the Innovative Health Initiative is organising an online event ‘In conversation with… EBiSC2’.

Taking the form of a panel discussion followed by a Q&A, the goal of this 45-min event is to highlight the EBiSC 2 project’s achievements and how it succeeded in transforming the existing EBiSC catalogue of stem cell lines into a self-sustaining biobank.

IHI’s scientific officer, Angelica Valente, will moderate the discussion between:

• Heiko Zimmermann, project coordinator for EBiSC2, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering
• Andreas Ebneth, EFPIA project lead for EBiSC2, Janssen Neuroscience Therapeutic Area
• Julia Neubauer, deputy project coordinator for EBiSC2, Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering
• Stefan Frank, EBiSC2 project lead for Bayer, BlueRock Therapeutics
• Rachel Steeg, project manager for EBiSC and EBiSC2, Fraunhofer UK Research Ltd

About the EBiSC2 project

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are key tools for early drug development and disease modelling. iPSCs are mature adult cells that have been reprogrammed to make them ‘pluripotent’, i.e. able to differentiate into any type of cell found in the human body.

Building on the foundations laid by the IMI project EBiSC, which set up the initial EBiSC catalogue of over 800 iPSC lines, EBiSC2 successfully enabled EBiSC to transition into a self-sustaining biobanking model for long-term operations. The project developed new iPSC lines to expand and enrich the catalogue, new pre-differentiated cells which help to simplify iPSC research, and completed proof-of-concept studies undertaken by academia and industry to demonstrate reliability. The EBiSC2 project has provided the scientific community with access to a wide range of robust, high-quality iPSCs from diverse disease and genetic backgrounds which will continue to be available to all researchers via www.ebisc.org.

Read the EBiSC2 factsheet: https://www.ihi.europa.eu/projects-results/project-factsheets/ebisc2