Super Cells: The Power of Stem Cells exhibit at MaRS October 5 – November 12

Award-winning exhibit to teach kids about stem cells

TORONTO, October 5, 2015 – A new science exhibit, created in both French and English, opens today at MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto. Super Cells: The Power of Stem Cells is a FREE, interactive, museum-quality exhibit that will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., October 5 to November 12, 2015. The exhibit is designed for children 4-14 and accompanying educational materials for schools are provided for ages 6-14, in both languages.

“When the Stem Cell Network requested our expertise and financial support in building this exhibit, we were pleased to collaborate on this very worthwhile initiative,” says Dr. Peter Zandstra, CSO, Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) and Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Bioengineering. “It’s fitting to be teaching our young people about stem cells mere steps from the place where stem cells were discovered and we‘re hopeful this exhibit sparks their curiosity and passion for science – especially in regenerative medicine.”

Super Cells is an award-winning exhibit* that was produced by the Stem Cell Network and Musee Nature Sciences Sherbrooke, with assistance from stem cell and regenerative medicine translation centres in Canada, the U.S. and the UK. It opened in September 2014 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and has since travelled to Newcastle, UK. After the Toronto stop, Super Cells will be on display in the United States (California), and then it returns to Canada in 2017, to the Musee du Fjord in Quebec.

Financial support and expertise were provided by CCRM, CIRM and the UK’s Cell Therapy Catapult. EuroStemCell contributed content/oversight.

Special thanks to MaRS for providing exhibition space and to the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering and Science & Engineering Engagement for financially supporting the Toronto exhibition.

For more information, please see www.supercells.ca.

*Super Cells was awarded the 2015 CASCADE Award for Best Exhibit or Show – Small Institution, from the Canadian Association of Science Centres.

About the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM)
CCRM, a Canadian not-for-profit organization funded by the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program and academic partners, supports the development of technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based technologies and therapies. A network of academics, industry and entrepreneurs, CCRM aims to translate scientific discoveries into marketable products for patients with specialized team funding and infrastructure.

CCRM sources and conducts diligence on intellectual property from around the globe, performing fee-for-service and development projects with academia and industry in the areas of cell reprogramming and engineering, cell manufacturing and biomaterials. CCRM has a fully resourced, 6,000 square foot development facility used to advance technologies for out-licensing or company creation. CCRM launched in Toronto’s Discovery District on June 14, 2011 and is hosted by the University of Toronto.

For more information, please contact:
Stacey Johnson
Director of Communications, CCRM
647-309-1830
Stacey.johnson@ccrm.ca
www.ccrm.ca