The Australian Stem Cell Centre - the National Biotechnology Centre of Excellence - is a research and development centre which focusses on regenerative medicine through the use of stem cells. It was founded in 2003, and has received over $100 million in funding in recent years. It is Australia's premier stem cell research organisation. In June 2008, the Centre announced that it had begun working on induced pluripotent (iPS) cells (human embryonic stem cells, artificially created without human eggs or embryos).