Stem cells – both adult and embryonic – represent a therapeutic lead with a future, not only for neuromuscular diseases but also for all diseases, whether rare or frequent. 

The year 2005 was marked by the launch of Dr Marc Peschanski’s I-Stem project at Evry. I-Stem is the result of collaboration between the AFM, Généthon, Inserm, Génopole and the University of Evry with the objective of validating the relevance and feasibility of embryonic stem cell research by the end of 2006.
At the beginning of 2005 I-Stem obtained the first authorisation in France to work on embryonic stem cells from cell-lines imported from abroad. In June 2006 the laboratory received authorisation from the Biomedicine Agency to construct a databank of mutated cells able to serve as models for the study of monogenic diseases.
In September 2006 Inserm returned a positive evaluation of the project, which was materialised by the creation of a dedicated U861-Istem unit and the extension of the I-Stem programme voted by the AFM’s board of governors on 22 September 2006. I-Stem is now a large research programme supported by Inserm, the AFM, Génopole and local authorities.
In its 2007-2010 develoment plan, I-Stem is taking possession of 1 600m² of laboratories renovated and equipped by the AFM. It has also acquired a large high-throughput screening robot financed by Inserm, the AFM and local authorities. This has become the base for a platform unique in France for this kind of structure. It will be used for screening molecules on adults or embryonic stem cells in order to promote therapeutic applications in monogenic diseases. (See the video reportage shot during the inauguration of I-Stem in September 2007).
Within I-Stem, Michel Pucéat’s team demonstrated the capacity of embryonic stem cells to differentiate themselves into cardiac cells in the defective hearts of rats (Publication in Stem Cells in June 2007).

The AFM’s investment in the field of stem cells is also expressed by collaboration with the Cochin Institute in Paris, the Biotherapy Institute in Montpellier, the San Raffaele Institute in Milan as well as with the Généthon laboratory, where a team is specially dedicated to cell research.

Moreover, at the end of 2007 the Institute of Myology registered a request for the renewal of David Sassoon’s “UMRS 787-Myology Group” unit whose objective is to identify the cellular and molecular behaviour mechanisms of muscle stem cells and to apply these results to genetic models and therapeutic leads.