Human Stem Cell Use: Embryonic Stem Cell
Human ES cell based therapy of heart failure without allogenic immune rejection
Heart failure is a major and ever-growing health problem affecting an estimated 5.8 million Americans with about half a million new cases every year. There are limited therapeutic options for heart failure. Heart transplantation is effective but has limited impact due to scarcity of donor organs and eventual immune rejection even under chronic immune suppression. […]
Heart Repair with Human Tissue Engineered Myocardium
Heart disease is the number one cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. With an estimated 1.5 million new or recurrent myocardial infarctions, the total economic burden on our health care system is enormous. Although conventional pharmacotherapy and surgical interventions often improve cardiac function and quality of life, many patients continue to develop refractory […]
Functional Neural Relay Formation by Human Neural Stem Cell Grafting in Spinal Cord Injury
We aim to develop a novel stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury (SCI) that is substantially more potent than previous stem cell treatments. By combining grafts of neural stem cells with scaffolds placed in injury sites, we have been able to optimize graft survival and filling of the injury site. Grafted cells extend long […]
Multiple Sclerosis therapy: Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Progenitor Cells
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system (CNS) caused by inflammation and loss of cells that produce myelin, which normally insulates and protects nerve cells. MS is a leading cause of neurological disability among young adults in North America. Current treatments for MS include drugs such as interferons and corticosteroids that […]
Human ES cell-derived MGE inhibitory interneuron transplantation for spinal cord injury
Transplantation of neuronal precursors into the central nervous system offers great promise for the treatment of neurological disorders including spinal cord injury (SCI). Among the most significant consequences of SCI are bladder spasticity and neuropathic pain, both of which likely result from a reduction in those spinal inhibitory mechanisms that are essential for normal bladder […]
Evaluation of Safety and Preliminary Efficacy of Escalating Doses of GRNOPC1 in Subacute Spinal Cord Injury
The proposed project is designed to assess the safety and preliminary activity of escalating doses of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells for treatment of spinal cord injury. Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells have two important functions: they produce neurotrophic factors which stimulate the survival and growth of neurons (nerve cells) after injury, and […]
Studying neurotransmission of normal and diseased human ES cell-derived neurons in vivo
Stem cells, including human embryonic stem cells, provide extraordinary new opportunities to model human diseases and may serve as platforms for drug screening and validation. Especially with the ever-improving effective and safe methodologies to produce genetically identical human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), increasing number of patient-specific iPSCs will be generated, which will enormously facilitate […]
Viral-host interactions affecting neural differentiation of human progenitors
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the major cause of birth defects, almost all of which are neuronal in origin. Approximately 1% of newborns are infected, and of the 13% that are symptomatic at birth, 50% will have severe permanent hearing deficits, vision loss, motor impairment, and mental retardation. At least 14% of asymptomatic infants also will […]
Correlated time-lapse imaging and single cell molecular analysis of human embryo development
We understand little about human development especially at the earliest stages. Yet human developmental biology is very important to stem cell biology and regenerative medicine for two reasons: 1) Understanding human developmental pathways especially of embryonic differentiation will inform our efforts to derive pluripotent stem cells and differentiate them to stable progenitors that are suitable […]
Molecular basis of human ES cell neurovascular differentiation and co-patterning
During human development, autonomic neurons align with and pattern alongside blood vessels. This patterning allows the autonomic nervous system to control the vascular function a phenomenon that is very useful during situations such as “fight or flight” responses where the blood vessels need to respond rapidly and involuntarily to stimuli. Since the alignment of blood […]