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A blood stem cell transplant can save lives. However, there is often a shortage of donor cells. A team from Hannover Medical School (MHH) and LMU Munich now aims to produce blood stem cells. Their ‘smartiBONE’ project is receiving one million euros in funding from the BMFTR.
For people with leukaemia, rare immunodeficiencies and severe autoimmune diseases, a haematopoietic stem cell transplant can be life-saving. However, there is a shortage of suitable donor cells. This is because, for a transplant to be successful, the tissue characteristics of the donor and the recipient must match as closely as possible. Although more than 90,000 blood stem cell transplants are carried out worldwide every year, it remains difficult for many patients to find a suitable donor. And even when suitable cells are available, the medical community faces a further hurdle: outside the body, blood stem cells from the bone marrow lose their ability to renew themselves whilst simultaneously producing all types of blood cells. Yet it is precisely these properties that are crucial for a successful transplant.
To date, there is no reliable and reproducible method for producing functional haematopoietic stem cells in large numbers outside the human body. This is where the new ‘smartiBONE’ research project comes in: A team from Hannover Medical School (MHH), led by Prof. Dr. Nico Lachmann, is collaborating with a team from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) to take a decisive step towards the production of blood stem cells. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing a total of one million euros for the project. The project is scheduled to start in November 2026.
The MHH team has already developed a technology that enables the production of different types of immune cells in varying quantities from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) – somatic cells that have been ‘reprogrammed’ using biotechnology and from which any type of cell in the body can be derived. This technology is now to be used to produce functional haematopoietic stem cells on a large scale with the aid of bone-marrow-like organoids. This has already been achieved on a small scale.
“With ‘smartiBONE’, we aim to take a decisive step towards sustainable and accessible cell therapy for patients with severe blood and immune disorders,” emphasises Professor Lachmann of the MHH Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology. “We are not only working on new treatment options, but also on a new infrastructure for the medicine of the future.” The blood stem cells developed are intended to complement existing therapy using donor cells and also serve as a research resource.
The production of blood stem cells could, in future, provide a personalised, accessible and ethically sound source of cells – in addition to the availability of suitable donors. The team’s research is carried out within the Centre for Cell and Gene Therapies at the MHH, as well as within the RESIST Cluster of Excellence and the German Centre for Lung Research.
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For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Nico Lachmann, lachmann.Nico@mh-hannover.de.
Aiming to produce haematopoietic stem cells: Prof Dr. Nico Lachmann and Dr. Mark Klassen (from left) ...
Copyright: Karin Kaiser/MHH
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Aiming to produce haematopoietic stem cells: Prof Dr. Nico Lachmann and Dr. Mark Klassen (from left) ...
Copyright: Karin Kaiser/MHH
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