Cellular Dynamics International announced today it signed an agreement with the Jain Foundation to create five induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines from patients with muscular dystrophies for the eventual purpose of drug discovery.

“iPSC technology promises to provide a path to better understand these devastating genetic diseases so that researchers can develop therapies,” Plavi Mittal, President and CEO of the Jain Foundation, said in a statement. “CDI’s ability to make iPSCs at high quality and purity from any individual … will provide scientists new tools to understand and address these debilitating forms of muscular dystrophy.”

According to a release, CDI will employ its MyCell Products line to create the patient-derived iPSC lines.

The Seattle-based Jain Foundation is a non-profit foundation whose mission is to cure muscular dystrophies caused by dysferlin protein deficiency, which includes the clinical presentations Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2B (LGMD2B) and Miyoshi muscular dystrophy 1 (MMD1).

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.