POSTECH and the Catholic University of Korea (CUA) have announced the establishment of a joint firm for the development of anti-cancer stem cell treatment.

An opening ceremony was held on Sep. 6 to celebrate the foundation of the joint venture, PoCaStem. The ceremony was attended by members from both institutions, including President Yongmin Kim and Monseigneur Raphael Park, Executive secretary of the Catholic Education Foundation, and executives of Xenecine.

In 2005, POSTECH and CUA organized POSTECH-CATHOLIC Biomedical Engineering Institute (PCBMI), which is the first Korean joint research center between universities.  The members have been conducting joint research that combines the bioengineering knowledge of POSTECH and both stem cell techniques and clinical infrastructure of CUA.

PoCaStem, the first spin-off joint venture of PCBMI, will be funded by POSCO BioVentures and Xenecine.  A bio firm conducting researches on developing potential genetic stem cell treatment material also participates in it.

Stem cell treatment is a strategy that introduces new cells into damaged tissues in order to treat disease or injury. Many medical researchers expect that the self-renewal ability of stem cells offers significant potential for generation of tissues that can potentially replace diseased areas in the body with minimal risk of side effects. PoCaStem will develop anti-cancer stem cell treatment which creates disease treatment protein in the body by injecting treatment genes to the patients.

PoCaStem aims to overcome a previous technological shortcoming such as poor delivery rate or risks of rejections. It will also develop innovative biodrugs which will treat solid cancer such as breast cancer as well as neuropathy like multiple sclerosis.

“PoCaStem will suggest a new model which causes synergy effects by bringing together the strengths of university, hospital, and company,” said Prof. Jeon Shin-su of CUA.