STEM CELL PRODUCTION CORE

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Mesenchymal stem cells or marrow stromal cells (MSCs) are a subset of adult stem cells from bone marrow. These cells are of medical and therapeutic interest because they have been shown to differentiate into osteoblasts, adipocytes, chondrocytes and myocytes. In addition these cell types have been shown to squelch inflammatory response associated with disease processes. Due to their biologic properties, these cells have the potential to be useful for the treatment of a large number of genetic diseases. Dr. Bunnell has successfully defined the requirements for the expansion and characterization of rhesus macaque MSCs isolated from either the bone marrow or adipose tissue. The Stem Cell Production Core Facility (SCPC) focuses on generation, maintenance and distribution of nonhuman primate MSCs. MSCs are regularly isolated from rhesus macaque bone marrow and adipose tissue samples. We presently have a bank of MSC cell lines generated from over 100 rhesus macaques of varying age prepared and ready for distribution. The SCPC presently has a large impact on other divisions within the TNPRC, and Departments and Centers within the Tulane Health Sciences Center and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and other research labs nationally. This core produces rhesus macaque stem cell preparations for collaborative research projects. For this we plan to use the techniques developed over the last funding period to isolate stem cells (MSCs and ESCs) to expand the bank of various stem cell types isolated from animals of various ages (fetal, newborn and adults) and sexes of animals. The cells will be used to generate large cell banks for use internally or externally by collaborating scientists. We have generated an extensive bank of stem cells for use by the scientific community for various ages of animals.