Grant Award Details
- Goal is to provide support, facilities and expertise for the Santa Barbara stem cell research community.
Progress Reports
View Report
View Report
View Report
View Report
View Report
View Report
View Report
Grant Application Details
- Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering
Regenerative medicine is an emerging area that will only realize its great potential through novel collaborative research approaches, and the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) is well positioned to make significant contributions by leveraging fundamental biomedical research efforts with enabling technologies in materials, microfluidics and bioengineering. This proposal details plans for the development and renovation of shared-use laboratory facilities for the culture of human embryonic stem cells (hESC). The Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering will be designed to promote stem cell research by investigators at UCSB, as well as those at neighboring universities and research institutions on the California central coast. Availability of a core stem cell laboratory will facilitate expansion of current stem cell studies at UCSB and stimulate new investigations into the biology and engineering of stem cells. The Laboratory will be embedded within a new UCSB Center for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering that is planned for the 3rd and 4th floors of Biological Sciences 2 building. Our clientele will include researchers in 13 different Departments and Institutes at UCSB, as well as nearby institutions. Research supported by the facility will include: investigations of the molecular mechanisms of hESC proliferation and differentiation; translational bioengineering to study novel methods of hESC culture, sorting, and delivery; and studies in regenerative medicine that test hESC derivatives in animal models of disease.
California, like much of the United States, is facing a staggering challenge to its health care system. Increasingly physicians are treating chronic, debilitating, and therefore expensive diseases with organ specific impairments. Examples include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and Parkinson’s disease. The demographic wave of the Baby Boomers will accelerate many of these issues. By 2020 they will average 64 years of age. As a result, the percentage of the elderly in California is expected to grow from what was 14 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2030.
Treatment of chronic degenerative diseases of an aging population, which is proportionally a high percentage along the Central Coast, is an imperative. Degenerative diseases are those diseases caused by the loss or dysfunction of cells. Examples include cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, Parkinson’s disease, osteoporosis, and macular degeneration. Among these, stem cell work at UCSB would leverage a strong existing program in macular degeneration, a condition that is not being addressed in the stem cell field nationally or in California. Stem cell work for eye disease holds the promise of being a poster child for the entire field. There is no doubt that an early clinical success will benefit the state.
In terms of advanced biomedical research our geographic region is not well represented, but its engineering sector is primed with enabling technology. The area is ripe for growth in biotechnology that would serve as a pipeline to large pharmaceutical corporations as stem cell technologies move toward the clinic. The proposed Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering will promote this movement and enhance the research stature of The University and attract leading researchers to California.
Publications
- Cell (2016) Primary Cilium-Autophagy-Nrf2 (PAN) Axis Activation Commits Human Embryonic Stem Cells to a Neuroectoderm Fate. (PubMed: 27020754)
- Hum Mol Genet (2016) Haploinsufficiency of BAZ1B contributes to Williams syndrome through transcriptional dysregulation of neurodevelopmental pathways. (PubMed: 26755828)
- Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (2016) Anatomical and Gene Expression Changes in the Retinal Pigmented Epithelium Atrophy 1 (rpea1) Mouse: A Potential Model of Serous Retinal Detachment. (PubMed: 27603725)
- Neuron (2016) A Primate lncRNA Mediates Notch Signaling during Neuronal Development by Sequestering miRNA. (PubMed: 27263970)
- Transl Vis Sci Technol (2016) ROCK Inhibition Promotes Attachment, Proliferation, and Wound Closure in Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigmented Epithelium. (PubMed: 27917311)
- Cell Stem Cell (2015) Humanized Mice Reveal Differential Immunogenicity of Cells Derived from Autologous Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. (PubMed: 26299572)
- Biomaterials (2015) Light-activated RNA interference in human embryonic stem cells. (PubMed: 26086448)
- Stem Cells Transl Med (2015) Defined culture of human embryonic stem cells and xeno-free derivation of retinal pigmented epithelial cells on a novel, synthetic substrate. (PubMed: 25593208)
- Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci (2015) Canonical/beta-catenin Wnt pathway activation improves retinal pigmented epithelium derivation from human embryonic stem cells. (PubMed: 25604686)
- Prog Retin Eye Res (2015) Stem cell based therapies for age-related macular degeneration: The promises and the challenges. (PubMed: 26113213)
- Cerebrum (2015) Tau-er of Power. (PubMed: 26380035)
- JAMA Neurol (2015) Personalized medicine for effective Alzheimer disease treatment. (PubMed: 25730751)
- Cell Rep (2015) Genomic DISC1 Disruption in hiPSCs Alters Wnt Signaling and Neural Cell Fate. (PubMed: 26299970)
- Mol Psychiatry (2015) Whole-genome sequencing suggests a chemokine gene cluster that modifies age at onset in familial Alzheimer's disease. (PubMed: 26324103)
- Stem Cells (2015) Concise Review: Making Stem Cells Retinal: Methods for Deriving Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Implications for Patients With Ocular Disease. (PubMed: 25809736)
- Stem Cells Transl Med (2014) ROCK Inhibition Extends Passage of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Retinal Pigmented Epithelium. (PubMed: 25069775)
- Nano Lett (2014) Modular plasmonic nanocarriers for efficient and targeted delivery of cancer-therapeutic siRNA. (PubMed: 24597503)
- Stem Cells Transl Med (2014) Reprogramming Human Retinal Pigmented Epithelial Cells to Neurons Using Recombinant Proteins. (PubMed: 25298373)
- Neuron (2014) A quantitative framework to evaluate modeling of cortical development by neural stem cells. (PubMed: 24991955)
- Nature (2014) Synaptic dysregulation in a human iPS cell model of mental disorders. (PubMed: 25132547)
- Stem Cells Transl Med (2013) Rapid and Efficient Directed Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Into Retinal Pigmented Epithelium. (PubMed: 23599499)
- RNA (2011) Identification of piRNAs in the central nervous system. (PubMed: 21515829)
- Nat Chem (2010) A versatile approach to high-throughput microarrays using thiol-ene chemistry. (PubMed: 21124405)
- Stem Cells (2010) Memory in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Reprogrammed Human Retinal Pigmented Epithelial Cells Show Tendency for Spontaneous Redifferentiation. (PubMed: 20882530)
- J Biotechnol (2010) Synthetic surfaces for human embryonic stem cell culture. (PubMed: 20132848)