In research labs across Canada and around the world, scientists developing the next biomedical breakthrough rely on products made in B.C. by STEMCELL Technologies.

Founded in 1993 by UBC professor and longtime CEO Dr. Allen Eaves, STEMCELL grew out of a UBC lab to become Canada’s largest biotech company. From its Vancouver headquarters and manufacturing centre in Burnaby, the company supplies specialized research tools to more than 25,000 customers in 100 countries, employs nearly 1,800 people, and drives export growth for the province.

Rather than pursuing blockbuster drugs, STEMCELL found success by focusing on what Dr. Eaves calls “the picks and shovels of the biotech gold rush”—tissue culture media and lab equipment that accelerates innovation in fields such as cancer, diabetes and neurological disease research.

“UBC was the right place, with the right people, at the right time for STEMCELL to take root,” says Dr. Eaves. “Once the ideas started to flow, the growth followed.”

Forging a stem cell revolution in an old bakery

Today, STEMCELL is an anchor company within B.C.’s booming biotech sector, providing early-career opportunities for UBC co-op students and graduates, retaining highly skilled talent, attracting investment, and helping to fuel a cycle of research, partnerships and new life sciences companies.

When Dr. Eaves started his medical residency at UBC in 1975, the province’s life sciences ecosystem looked very different. Some of the building blocks were in place: an ambitious young UBC medical school, a newly minted provincial cancer agency, and a growing community of biomedical researchers. However, B.C. didn’t yet have an integrated research, clinical and commercial ecosystem that could rival burgeoning biotech centres in the U.S. and Europe.

As a young clinician-scientist passionate about cancer research, Dr. Eaves was captivated by bone marrow transplant advances in the U.S. to treat leukemia.

“I wanted to build something like that here in B.C. for Canadians,” he recalls. “Patients shouldn’t have to leave the province, or the country, to get lifesaving treatment.”

After completing his medical residency, Dr. Eaves joined UBC’s Faculty of Medicine as a professor in 1979. Alongside his wife Dr. Connie Eaves—herself a renowned UBC researcher—they set out to build a research program focused on stem cells and bone marrow transplantation.

Although they faced some initial resistance, there was a surge of interest in cancer research when Canada’s Terry Fox began inspiring the nation with his Marathon of Hope. By 1981, with $1 million from the provincial government, the Eaves co-founded the Terry Fox Laboratory. From the top floor of an old industrial bakery across from the BC Cancer Agency, they began studying stem cells, leukemia and the biology of cancer.

The lab’s work quickly drew global attention. In a landmark 1983 New England Journal of Medicine paper, Dr. Allen Eaves discovered that patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia, previously believed to have no remaining healthy blood-forming stem cells, in fact retained some healthy cells that could be grown in culture.

“The discovery reshaped scientific understanding of the disease and really put Vancouver on the map,” he recalls.

Building Canada’s first bone marrow transplant program

The breakthrough helped attract leading clinicians and researchers to B.C., including Dr. Gordon Phillips, a top bone marrow transplant specialist from the U.S.

Still, Dr. Eaves knew that B.C. needed a strong pipeline of local talent to become a true centre of biomedical excellence.

“It sounds preposterous today, but in the early ’80s, very few people in the world were teaching about cancer,” he says.

Dr. Eaves set out to change that, creating UBC’s first course in medical oncology and a graduate training program in pathology. These programs helped establish the talent pool that continues to power B.C.’s health and life sciences sector today.

Among the many PhD students to train in the Terry Fox Lab was Dr. Peter Zandstra, founding director of UBC’s School of Biomedical Engineering and a leading expert in stem cell engineering.

“Allen has had a phenomenal impact on our community—from creating a culture of scientific excellence at the Terry Fox Labs to building a global enterprise that allows our scientists and engineers to stay in Canada and contribute meaningfully to health innovation,” says Dr. Zandstra. “His focus and vision have helped shape Vancouver into a leading biotech hub.”

With a growing team of international recruits and homegrown clinician-scientists, Dr. Eaves led the creation of Canada’s first bone marrow transplant program in the late 1980s, bringing together key partners from UBC, BC Cancer and Vancouver General Hospital.

The program became a lifeline for patients with advanced blood cancers and doubled as a training ground for UBC clinicians and scientists. By the early 1990s, the program had performed more than 1,500 transplants.

“That was when everything started to connect—research, clinical work and training,” Dr. Eaves says. “Once that happens, you build momentum.”

From discovery to enterprise: the birth of STEMCELL

Although Dr. Eaves never envisioned himself as an entrepreneur, he started STEMCELL as a practical solution to a scientific problem.

Many of the commercial products the Terry Fox Lab used to grow tissue cultures lacked consistency and reliability, so Dr. Eaves and his team decided to make their own. Soon, other researchers were asking to buy them. Demand grew quickly.

“We didn’t set out to start a company,” Dr. Eaves says. “We set out to make better tools for science.”

By the early 1990s, the side-of-the-lab-bench commercial operation outgrew the small research space. Determined to keep the inventions in Canada, the Eaves decided to re-mortgage their home and launched STEMCELL Technologies in 1993.

STEMCELL’s focus on scientific tools proved to be a powerful strategy. The company has maintained 18-per-cent annual growth for three decades, with 97 per cent of its sales now outside Canada.

A global company with UBC roots

As STEMCELL grew, it remained closely connected to UBC.

At any given time, STEMCELL employs more than 40 UBC co-op students, along with hundreds of alumni across its workforce. To this day, the company collaborates with UBC researchers and supports academic labs.

“One of UBC’s greatest contributions to the life sciences sector has always been people—students, graduates and researchers whose skills and creativity power local innovation,” says Dr. Sharmila Anandasabapathy, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, and Vice-President, Health at UBC. “We’re training the talent industry needs, talent that allows companies like STEMCELL to take root, scale globally and generate economic opportunity for B.C. and Canada.”

Dr. Allen Eaves retired from UBC in 2006, while Dr. Connie Eaves continued to teach and conduct research at UBC until her passing in 2024.

Standing inside STEMCELL’s Vancouver headquarters, Dr. Eaves still sees himself as a scientist first—someone motivated by curiosity, collaboration and a desire to improve human health. Yet, there is no doubt the work he and Connie began decades ago has helped transform Vancouver into a global life sciences innovation hub—even if it still surprises Dr. Eaves.

“I never imagined any of this when I started,” he says.

Learn more about how UBC research and partnerships are helping to power the economy.