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Saudi iPSC Biobank: Advancing Disease Research and Therapeutics

In 2021, the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) in Jeddah, located in the western region of Saudi Arabia, launched a national initiative to establish a comprehensive biobank of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from Saudi patients and healthy donors. This initiative, known as the Saudi Bank of iPSCs (SBiPSCs), was envisioned as a strategic infrastructure project to support regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug discovery in the Kingdom.

SBiPSCs was designed with two primary arms. The first arm focuses on the derivation of iPSCs from healthy Saudi donors selected based on their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) profiles. These donors were carefully chosen to ensure that their HLA types match a broad segment of the Saudi population. The goal is to establish a haplobank of highly characterized, HLA-homozygous iPSC lines that can serve as a universal starting material for the development of allogeneic cell therapies tailored to the genetic makeup of the Saudi population.

The second arm of the biobank focuses on the generation and cataloging of patient-derived iPSC lines from Saudi individuals affected by both rare and common genetic diseases—many of which are underrepresented or entirely absent from existing global stem cell repositories. These iPSC lines represent a unique and invaluable resource for pharmaceutical companies and research institutions seeking biologically relevant models for preclinical drug discovery and precision medicine.

What sets these lines apart is not only their genetic distinctiveness, shaped by the high consanguinity rates in the Saudi population, but also the breadth of associated clinical data. Each line is supplemented with a curated dataset that includes the patient's confirmed diagnosis, symptom profile, and key laboratory findings. This integrated approach enhances the translational potential of our iPSCs, offering a powerful platform for disease modeling, high-throughput drug screening, and the identification of novel therapeutic targets.

By accessing these well-characterized, clinically annotated cell lines, industry and academic partners can significantly accelerate their R&D pipelines with models that more accurately reflect patient-specific disease phenotypes, particularly for conditions that are genetically rooted and previously inaccessible for study. This opens new avenues for the development of targeted treatments and allows for more predictive pharmacological testing—ultimately reducing time and cost in the drug development process.