Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

Stem cell research and regenerative medicine hold enormous promise to elucidate disease mechanisms inherent in cancers, juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases.  Academic and industry researchers across the globe are working vigorously to unlock the promise of stem cell research.

Although human embryonic stem cells (hESC) hold considerable therapeutic promise, envisioned stem cell therapy of human disease has limitations that, with the help of RNAi and gene therapy, can possibly be mitigated.  The stem cells from an unrelated donor are recognized as foreign by a patient’s immune system, requiring that the patient be treated with potent, immune-suppressing drugs.

An alternative is the use of stem cells derived from the patient.  For such an approach to succeed, the patient-derived stem cells must first be ‘repaired’ to prevent a recurrence of the very same disease in a regenerated organ.  The advanced techniques required to potentially achieve this goal-RNAi and gene therapy-must therefore be developed hand-in-hand with stem cell therapies.

International Stem Cell Registry (ISCR)

In September, 2008 UMMS in collaboration with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center ($570,000 grant) launched the International Stem Cell Registry (ISCR) .  The ISCR provides an online resource of information on hESCs to the academic and private sector biomedical research community and to the public.  Envisioned as a “one stop shop” for hESC information, the site details the properties and potential applications of specific hESC lines and includes information about obtaining the cells and a catalog of references related to each hESC line.

While researchers can use the information to inform their scientific studies, patients can use the website to gain information about stem cell advances that may benefit them, and doctors can stay current on information relevant to their patients.  The website provides information at varying levels of complexity, ensuring that each constituency can access the information in a practical format.

Future Plans

In early 2009 with a $10 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, UMMS will establish the Massachusetts Stem Cell Bank (MSCB) to create a resource for all established and newly established cell lines.  The ISCR/MSCB will be a unique Core of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, providing the expertise to grow and characterize stem cell lines and make them readily available to academic and industrial colleagues in the Commonwealth.  In addition, the Core will serve as a catalog and data warehouse storing all new data which becomes available from studies conducted on stem cell lines.

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