NRP 63 Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

The National Research Programme “Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine“ (NRP 63) aimed at giving a boost to basic research on stem cells and regenerative medicine, at encouraging top scientists with an excellent track record in developmental and cell biology to engage in this field and at recruiting and training of young scientists in this field with specific scholarships.

On the one hand, the projects of NRP 63 were to investigate basic mechanisms, on the other hand, they were to show application perspectives for the prevention or therapy of diseases. The research priorities of NRP 63 listed below were arranged according to basic concepts:

  • Stem cells and organ development;
  • Definition of "stemness", cell plasticity and of stem cell niches;
  • Comparison and functional analysis of normal and abnormal stem cells;
  • Role of stem cells in repair and regeneration;
  • Research on legal and ethical aspects of stem cell research and regenerative medicine.

Facts & figures

Overall funding

CHF 10'000'000

Period of research

5 years

President of the Steering Committee

Bernard Thorens, Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne

Head of Knowledge transfer

Adrian Heuss, advocacy AG

Programme co-ordinator

Marjory Hunt, SNSF

Call for proposals

16 February 2009