The European Bank for Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (EBiSC): Opportunities & Challenges Through Public-Private Collaboration

Abstract

The European Bank for induced Pluripotent Stem Cells is a global iPSC research resource designed to overcome inadequacies in iPSC research and banking services in order to make a diverse collection of quality-controlled iPS cell lines and genetic data easily accessible to researchers in Europe and worldwide. Opened to the public in 2016, EBiSC is a joint undertaking of the Innovative Medicines initiative of the European Commission, and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Institutes and Associations (EFPIA), in collaboration with a consortium of international experts from the iPSC community in academia, government and business. The paper identifies opportunities for this largescale resource through collaboration across the public and private sectors, and highlights challenges encountered during its establishment with regard to cell line provenance, a multiplicity of actors and interests, intellectual property rights restrictions, ownership of banked material, and management of access to genetic data.