Grant Award Details
- To provide comprehensive stem cell training (research, coursework in science, regulation and ethics) to 5 graduate students, 9 postdoctoral scholars, and 3 clinical fellows per annum.
Progress Reports
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Grant Application Details
- Interdisciplinary Training in Stem Cell Biology, Engineering and Medicine
This proposed Comprehensive Training Program will include 16 CIRM Scholars, three clinical fellows, eight postdoctoral fellows, and five pre-doctoral fellows. Our multidisciplinary program will provide training opportunities in stem cell biology, engineering, and medicine, with a focus on applying stem cell research toward the goal of treating human disease. Coursework offered as a part of this program will cover basic stem cell biology and current and potential uses of stem cells in regenerative medicine, as well as ethical, legal and social issues in stem cell research. CIRM Scholars' research projects may investigate fundamental biomedical problems such as the molecular basis of stem cell pluripotency, stem cell differentiation into mature tissues such as blood, nerve and muscle, or the reduction of stem cell regenerative capacity with ageing. CIRM Scholars whose expertise is in engineering may work to develop controlled environments for expansion and tissue-specific differentiation of human embryonic stem cells, or devices to enable or evaluate the results of stem cell transplantation. Clinical Fellows will integrate basic and translational research, with particular emphasis on cord blood transplantation for genetic or malignant blood diseases. This program will train leading young physicians, scientists and engineers who will contribute to the understanding of stem cell biology and to the development of stem cell-based therapies, as well as advancing the medical, intellectual, technological and economic strength of the State of California.
This proposed training program will develop highly skilled scientists, engineers, and clinical researchers to help ensure California’s continued leadership in biomedical research and engineering. The basic biological research component of this program seeks to identify molecules or biochemical pathways that could function as targets for enhancing or blocking stem cell differentiation. The resulting information could thus serve as a catalyst for drug development. Translational research projects that will be part of the proposed program include development of synthetic materials to support stem cell culture and tissue engineered blood vessel or nerve grafts. The program also includes engineering of novel equipment for imaging and isolation of stem cells. A primary goal of this work is to build new products to be developed and marketed by California biotechnology companies for research and clinical use. The clinical research component of our proposed program will attempt to expand the circumstances under which umbilical cord blood transplantation can be used to cure genetic blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. These conditions afflict a significant number of individuals in California, particularly in underserved populations, and require expensive and tissue-damaging treatment throughout patients’ lives. Success of this program will benefit the State of California by providing extended and enhanced quality of life for patients with genetic blood diseases, as well as a reduction in the anticipated amount of medical treatment cured patients will require over their lifetime.
Publications
- Sci Transl Med (2016) Selection-free genome editing of the sickle mutation in human adult hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. (PubMed: 27733558)
- Cell Rep (2015) Machine-Learning-Based Analysis in Genome-Edited Cells Reveals the Efficiency of Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis. (PubMed: 26387943)
- Gerontology (2015) Breast Cancer beyond the Age of Mutation. (PubMed: 26539838)
- Curr Opin Cell Biol (2015) Endocrine aspects of organelle stress-cell non-autonomous signaling of mitochondria and the ER. (PubMed: 25677685)
- Cancer Res (2015) Constitutive activation of Myosin-dependent contractility sensitizes glioma tumor-initiating cells to mechanical inputs and reduces tissue invasion. (PubMed: 25634210)
- Sci Rep (2015) Human iPSC-based Cardiac Microphysiological System For Drug Screening Applications. (PubMed: 25748532)
- Science (2015) Dynamics of CRISPR-Cas9 genome interrogation in living cells. (PubMed: 26564855)
- Tissue Eng Part C Methods (2014) Automated Video-Based Analysis of Contractility and Calcium Flux in Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem-Derived Cardiomyocytes Cultured over Different Spatial Scales. (PubMed: 25333967)
- Nat Methods (2014) Single-cell western blotting. (PubMed: 24880876)
- Biomaterials (2014) The effect of multivalent Sonic hedgehog on differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons. (PubMed: 24172856)
- Neurobiol Dis (2014) Efficient derivation of cortical glutamatergic neurons from human pluripotent stem cells: a model system to study neurotoxicity in Alzheimer's disease. (PubMed: 24055772)
- Cell Cycle (2014) microRNAs and cilia: An ancient connection. (PubMed: 25025146)
- J Cell Biol (2014) Actin and dynamin2 dynamics and interplay during clathrin-mediated endocytosis. (PubMed: 24891602)
- Stem Cells (2014) Biomaterial microenvironments to support the generation of new neurons in the adult brain. (PubMed: 24449485)
- Elife (2014) The dyskerin ribonucleoprotein complex as an OCT4/SOX2 coactivator in embryonic stem cells. (PubMed: 25407680)
- Nat Commun (2014) Oxytocin is an age-specific circulating hormone that is necessary for muscle maintenance and regeneration. (PubMed: 24915299)
- Development (2014) Ptch2 mediates the Shh response in Ptch1-/- cells. (PubMed: 25085974)
- Nat Immunol (2014) Quantitative and temporal requirements revealed for Zap70 catalytic activity during T cell development. (PubMed: 24908390)
- Adv Drug Deliv Rev (2014) Engineering strategies to mimic the glioblastoma microenvironment. (PubMed: 25174308)
- Mol Psychiatry (2014) Stress and glucocorticoids promote oligodendrogenesis in the adult hippocampus. (PubMed: 24514565)
- Cell (2014) Looping back to leap forward: transcription enters a new era. (PubMed: 24679523)
- Cell Mol Bioeng (2014) Developing Defined and Scalable 3D Culture Systems for Culturing Human Pluripotent Stem Cells at High Densities. (PubMed: 25419247)
- Methods Mol Biol (2014) Conjugation of proteins to polymer chains to create multivalent molecules. (PubMed: 24014311)
- Genes Dev (2014) A positive feedback between p53 and miR-34 miRNAs mediates tumor suppression. (PubMed: 24532687)
- FASEB J (2014) Sphingosine phosphate lyase regulates myogenic differentiation via S1P receptor-mediated effects on myogenic microRNA expression. (PubMed: 24158395)