Generation and characterization of high-quality, footprint-free human induced pluripotent stem cell lines from 3,000 donors to investigate multigenic diseases
First year progress on grant ID1-06557, " Generation and Characterization of High-Quality, Footprint-Free Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Lines From 3000 Donors to Investigate Multigenic Disease" has met all agreed-upon milestones. In particular, Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) has taken lease to approximately 5000 square feet of lab space at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, CA. The majority of this space is located within the new CIRM-funded Stem Cell Research Building at the Buck Institute and was extensively reconfigured to meet the specific needs of this grant. All equipment, including tissue culture safety cabinets and incubators, liquid-handling robotics, and QC instrumentation have been installed and qualified. A total of 16 scientists have been hired and trained (13 in Production and 3 in Quality) and more than 20 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been developed and approved specifically for this project. These SOPs serve to govern the daily activities of the Production and Quality staff and help ensure consistency and quality throughout the iPSC derivation and characterization process. In addition, a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) had to be developed to handle the large amount of data generated by this project and to track all samples from start to finish. The first and most important phase of this LIMS project has been completed; additional functionalities will likely be added to the LIMS during the next year, but completion of phase 1 will allow us to enter full production mode on schedule in the first quarter of year 2. Procedures for the shipping, infectious disease testing, and processing of donor samples were successfully implemented with the seven Tissue Collectors. To date, over 700 samples have been received from these Tissue Collectors and derivation of the first 50 patient-derived iPSC lines has been completed on schedule. These cells have been banked in the Coriell BioRepository, also located at the Buck Institute. The first Distribution Banks will be available for commercial release during year 2.
Reporting Period:
Year 2
The goal of CIRM Grant ID1-06557 is to generate high quality induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from blood and skin samples from 3000 donors, many of whom suffer from untreatable medical conditions, and place them in a Repository accessible to scientists around the world. Many common diseases have a complex or unknown origin that makes it difficult to develop effective treatments. iPSCs have the great advantage that they can be generated from adults suffering from a known disease and then converted ("differentiated") into any cell type in the body. For example, iPSC lines from patients with heart disease can be converted into heart cells, iPSC lines from patients with Alzheimer's disease can be converted to brain cell, and iPSC lines from patients with pulmonary fibrosis can be converted into cells of the lung. Comparison of these "patient-derived" iPSC lines with those from healthy donors can help to illuminate the underlying cause of disease and also to serve as a system for discovering drugs to treat the disease in question. Our lab has been tasked with converting control and patient blood or skin cells, collected by scientists throughout the state of California, into high quality iPSCs. In the past year, 1100 samples have been converted to iPSCs and passed quality control. These lines are being used to produce large Distribution Banks that will be made available to scientists globally.
Reporting Period:
Year 3
Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) has continued to generate passage 5 iPSC lines from donor samples submitted to us by Tissue Collectors throughout the state of California. Many of these donors suffer from a variety of multigenic disorders and high-quality iPSC lines should prove invaluable in improving our understanding of these devastating diseases in addition to providing a starting point for the discover of effective therapeutics. By the end of year three, we have generated iPSC clones from 1737 donor samples (out of 2670 received). Because of delays in receiving donor samples from our Tissue Collectors we have requested and received a one-year No Cost Extension to complete the activities associated with the grant by 30 November 2017. The iPSC lines generated under this grant are used to generate passage 10 Distribution Lines for deposit at Coriell, where they are made available to scientists around the world. CDI is Coriell's subcontractor responsible for generating the Dsitribution Lines. To date 1413 Distribution Lines have been transferred to Coriell. We will continue to add Distribution Lines to the Coriell/CIRM Repository over 2017.
Reporting Period:
NCE Year 4
During the second half of 2017 CDI completed the derivation of all available samples and deposited 3-6 clones at passage 5 into the Coriell CIRM Repository. Over the life of the grant we received 2841 of 3001 promised samples from Tissue Collectors throughout California. From those 2841 samples, a total of 14,369 clones were generated from 2596 donor samples, a successful completion rate of 91%. These passage 5 clones will be used to produce 3000 passage 10 Distribution Lines that will be made available to scientists globally. This concludes the activities under garnt ID1-06557.
Grant Application Details
Application Title:
Generation and characterization of high-quality, footprint-free human induced pluripotent stem cell lines from 3,000 donors to investigate multigenic diseases
Public Abstract:
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have the potential to differentiate to nearly any cells of the body, thereby providing a new paradigm for studying normal and aberrant biological networks in nearly all stages of development. Donor-specific iPSCs and differentiated cells made from them can be used for basic and applied research, for developing better disease models, and for regenerative medicine involving novel cell therapies and tissue engineering platforms. When iPSCs are derived from a disease-carrying donor; the iPSC-derived differentiated cells may show the same disease phenotype as the donor, producing a very valuable cell type as a disease model. To facilitate wider access to large numbers of iPSCs in order to develop cures for polygenic diseases, we will use a an episomal reprogramming system to produce 3 well-characterized iPSC lines from each of 3,000 selected donors. These donors may express traits related to Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cerebral palsy, diabetes, or respiratory diseases. The footprint-free iPSCs will be derived from donor peripheral blood or skin biopsies. iPSCs made by this method have been thoroughly tested, routinely grown at large scale, and differentiated to produce cardiomyocytes, neurons, hepatocytes, and endothelial cells. The 9,000 iPSC lines developed in this proposal will be made widely available to stem cell researchers studying these often intractable diseases.
Statement of Benefit to California:
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer great promise to the large number of Californians suffering from often intractable polygenic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and respiratory disease. iPSCs can be generated from numerous adult tissues, including blood or skin, in 4–5 weeks and then differentiated to almost any desired terminal cell type. When iPSCs are derived from a disease-carrying donor, the iPSC-derived differentiated cells may show the same disease phenotype as the donor. In these cases, the cells will be useful for understanding disease biology and for screening drug candidates, and California researchers will benefit from access to a large, genetically diverse iPSC bank. The goal of this project is to reprogram 3,000 tissue samples from patients who have been diagnosed with various complex diseases and from healthy controls. These tissue samples will be used to generate fully characterized, high-quality iPSC lines that will be banked and made readily available to researchers for basic and clinical research. These efforts will ultimately lead to better medicines and/or cellular therapies to treat afflicted Californians. As iPSC research progresses to commercial development and clinical applications, more and more California patients will benefit and a substantial number of new jobs will be created in the state.
