Wellcome Trust MRC Human Inducible Pluripotent Stem Cell Initiative

A national biobank of stem cells is being created from skin and blood samples of healthy and diseased individuals, allowing scientists to link genetic variations directly to how cells behave in the lab. As DNA sequencing becomes cheap and widespread, researchers face two problems: identifying which genetic differences are harmless and which increase disease risk, and understanding why a specific mutation causes a specific illness. This project tackles both by generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells—adult cells reprogrammed to an embryonic-like state—from hundreds of donors. By comparing each cell line’s DNA with its behaviour in culture, scientists can trace how genetic variation alters cell function, revealing disease mechanisms that are invisible from DNA alone. If successful, this resource will accelerate the translation of genetic discoveries into diagnostics and treatments. The cells and data will be freely available to UK researchers and clinicians, enabling collaborations that could identify drug targets for conditions where the genetic cause is known but the biological pathway is not. This is fundamental science with a direct translational pipeline: understanding how a variant changes a cell’s behaviour is the first step toward intervening in that process.