News
Stem Cell Network funds two projects by Guy Sauvageau’s team
Published on July 7, 2025
The Stem Cell Network (SCN) recently awarded $13.5 million to fund 36 regenerative medicine research projects and clinical trials across the country. Guy Sauvageau, Director of the Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells Research Unit, has received funding for two projects through these grants.
Accelerating Clinical Translation
Award Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a severe form of blood cancer with limited treatment options, particularly for patients who relapse or are at high risk. Immunotherapies are a promising avenue, but they often damage healthy blood stem cells, causing major side effects.
To overcome this problem, the team led by Guy Sauvageau has developed a therapy combining the UM171 molecule, which multiplies blood stem cells, with a genetic modification that protects healthy stem cells from immunotherapies. This new approach makes it possible to exploit the anti-leukemic capacities of immunotherapies, while limiting their toxic effects on transplanted stem cells.
SCN funding will enable the team to focus on the final steps before clinical trials and use in practice: ensuring safety, optimizing efficient manufacturing and obtaining regulatory approvals. Ultimately, this promising therapy will offer new hope to people who do not respond to existing treatments or whose transplant has failed.
Led by Guy Sauvageau, the project “Accelerating clinical translation of UM171 expanded and epitope-engineered HSC grafts” has been awarded $650,000. The grant will be shared with the teams of Benjamin Haley (Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont), Jean-Sébastien Delisle (Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont) and Kelly McNagny (University of British Columbia), co-investigators on the project. The teams of Bernhard Lehnertz (ExCellThera), Edouardo Rego (University of São Paulo), Etienne Gagnon (IRIC, Université de Montréal), Guillaume Richard-Carpentier (University of Toronto – University Health Network) and Lorena Lobo de Figueiredo-Pontes (University of São Paulo) will collaborate on the project.
Clinical Trial Awards
Recent data suggest that the use of higher doses of UM171 could accelerate healing and strengthen the rebuilding of patients’ immune systems. A new clinical trial will be launched to explore this potential, making cord blood transplantation a more accessible and effective treatment for patients with limited therapeutic options.
Led by Sandra Cohen (CIUSSS de l’est de l’Île de Montréal), the “Expanding Balanced-Hematopoietic Stem Cells With Optimized Dose of UM171 to Improve Engraftment” project has been awarded $1.1 million. The teams of Denis-Claude Roy (CIUSSS de l’Est de l’Île de Montréal), Guy Sauvageau (IRIC, Université de Montréal), Imran Ahmad (CIUSSS de l’Est de l’Île de Montréal), Jean Roy (Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont), Jean-Sébastien Delisle (Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont), Jonathan Bramson (McMaster University), Silvy Lachance (CIUSSS de l’Est de l’Île de Montréal) will also contribute.