The project involves researching, manufacturing and transplanting adult, human stem cells

Certain stem cell-based therapies could be available to Irish patients within a couple of years, as part of a new 2.5m research partnership between the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and research centres in Galway, Dublin and Cork.

The project will involve the researching, manufacturing and for the first time transplanting of adult human stem cells for the treatment of arthritis, burns and diabetic foot ulcers.

For decades, blood transfusions have been used as a basic, temporary form of cell therapy.

But time and technology has moved on and now the targeted delivery of cells to injured or diseased tissue is seen as a promising future method of treating a whole variety of illnesses and conditions.

As part of its objective to be involved in research, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) put out a call for ideas for research into cell-based therapies.

The winning proposal came from the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) in NUI Galway, supported by the National Adult Stem Cell Transplant Centre in St James's Hospital and the Centre for Research in Vascular Biology in University College Cork.

The IBTS will provide 2.5m over the next five years to the project.

The objective of the collaboration is to build a network of scientists in Ireland to research, manufacture and transplant new cell-based therapies.

The researchers will use adult stem cells from umbilical chords and bone marrow.

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Stem cell research to benefit Irish patients