This month is the 10-year anniversary of when Lisa Willemse and I launched Signals. As you would imagine, blogs come and go so 10 years is a significant milestone. It is also my 10-year anniversary at CCRM and when I was introduced to the regenerative medicine field. In my opinion, we’ve all come a long way (baby)!
Signals launched as a collaboration between CCRM and the Stem Cell Network. At the time, Lisa Willemse and I both led communications for our organizations. CCRM was the new kid on the block and it made sense for the two organizations to work together to tell the story of regenerative medicine in Canada, rather than have competing blogs. It was a great partnership, but one with a looming end date. The Stem Cell Network’s funding from the Networks of Centres of Excellence was due to expire in 2015. At that time, CCRM would take over publication duties of Signals. Which I did.
The year I joined CCRM, Shinya Yamanaka won the Nobel Prize. It was a momentous event for the regenerative medicine community. While stem cells were discovered in Canada way back in the 1960s, it took decades for the field to gain traction. And there were setbacks along the way.
However, by the time the federal government awarded funding to CCRM, it did seem as though all the talk of promise was solidifying into quantifiable progress. In the last decade, we have seen exciting manifestations of that progress: from an industry that’s been growing exponentially, to investment flooding into the field, to cell and gene therapies being approved around the world.
Are the challenges behind us? Definitely not! Our blog carnival question in 2018 asked whether the industry had finally come of age. The answers were mixed, but very interesting. From my vantage point at CCRM and as someone who attends industry conferences, I can tell you that big challenges remain, particularly in manufacturing, reimbursement, regulatory and adoption, but there is tremendous appetite to make this cutting-edge field of medicine mainstream.
Soon there will be shovels in the ground to begin construction of OmniaBio Inc., CCRM’s subsidiary and what will be the largest commercial-scale manufacturing facility for gene-modified cell therapies and viral vectors in Canada. That is exciting and tangible progress, and it means Canada will have domestic production capabilities for cell and gene therapies so we’re not relying on international supply chains. Importantly, it also means Canadian companies can keep their manufacturing local.
This month, Signals will be featuring blogs that celebrate the 10th anniversary. Next week you can read Cal Strode’s blog that compares the industry in 2012 to what we are experiencing now, in 2022. You won’t want to miss it.
Following that, we’ll be getting to know some of our bloggers on a more personal level. We developed our own Proust questionnaire for them and we can’t wait to share their answers with you. We’ll finish the month by learning what our bloggers and some thought leaders believe the industry will look like in 2050. I can’t promise that Signals will be around in 30 years to mark the accuracy of those predictions, but you are encouraged to award your own grades now.
Speaking of predictions, there were a few made back in 2012, like this one from blogger David Brindley: Cell therapy industry 2027: Increased transparency – a major opportunity or transient fad? By the way, this is also the most read blog.
I have learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed blogging and being the editor for Signals. I’ve also had a lot of fun (like when I had a go at song writing here and here) along the way. (Hey, I didn’t say I was good at it!) The “Right Turn” series has also been a joy. Back in the day, I think Lisa and I tried to one up each other to find the most amusing material to include. These days, it has evolved into something quite different – although I’ve mostly kept the videos – and I dropped the “disclaimer explanation” years ago as it no longer felt appropriate. If you weren’t around back then, here is the origin of Right Turn.
Finally, it has been a huge pleasure working with our bloggers – a few still with us from a decade ago! But we wouldn’t still be blogging if it weren’t for our readers. Thank you for getting us to this milestone! Please watch for our posts this month and feel free to share your own reminiscences about Signals in the comments.
Stacey Johnson
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