ANN ARBOR, Mich., Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. announced that it was awarded approximately $897,000 of a collaborative grant by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) providing funding over an 18 month period for the research and development of a system to engineer human stem cells into an artificial immune system. In addition to Aastrom, the multi-disciplinary team working on this project includes researchers from Florida State University and Tulane University, and is being led by scientists at the Ohio State University Research Foundation. A total grant of approximately $3.7 million was awarded to support the efforts of the collaborative scientific and engineering team involved in this research project, subject to appropriate progress as determined by DARPA. DARPA structured this Engineered Tissue Constructs program into two phases. The current grant supports Phase I, intended to establish the reliable differentiation of human stem cells into multiple immune functions within a 3-D culture system. Under a separate request, Phase II of the program will focus on the continuation of Phase I technologies. "Aastrom is pleased to be a part of this diverse team of experienced investigators, and looks forward to working with these respected institutions to develop an automated, clinical-scale culture system for the Department of Defense based on our current AastromReplicell(TM) System platform technology," said Steven N. Wolff, M.D., Vice President Medical Research of Aastrom. "We believe Aastrom's cell therapy technologies will benefit this project, and have the potential to lead to advances in the fields of immunotherapy, vaccine development and tissue regeneration." The immune system is the body's internal natural defense to fight infectious agents, including viruses. The potential outcome of this DARPA project is the development of an effective tissue engineering approach to generate an immune system outside of the body. It is intended that this system will be used to test new vaccines that may provide better protection against agents of bio-terrorism. Dr. Wolff continued, "Aastrom has been conducting clinical studies demonstrating the successful biological outcomes of ex vivo-expanded adult bone marrow stem cells using Aastrom's patented technologies. Due to the hard work and effort of Aastrom's team of researchers and engineers, this collaborative grant presents an important opportunity to use our technologies in the fight against biological terrorism."