Year 3

This year the Core provided facilities and training to an increasing number of stem cell research labs. We have added four new stem cell labs to our Stem Cell Center at UCR, and each lab has undergone training in the Core and had their lab members perform work in the Core. The new labs all have an interest in developing scaffolding for growing stem cells in 3-dimensions and have made innovative progress in this area. We have also offered hands-on training courses to 12 CIRM Bridges students from two universities and to five UCR graduate students. Five new CIRM Bridges students began their internships on our campus this year, and two CIRM interns from last year have continued on to complete a full year of training at UCR. The latter two students have received Master’s degrees and are now entering PhD programs. We have continued to develop new reporter lines in the Core and to make these available to other users and we have further characterized our RIV9 induced pluripotent stem cell line. This year we added a significant amount of space to the Core, almost doubling it in size. This space now accommodates several pieces of equipment, including the flow cytometer, microplate reader, Luminex, and karyotyping workstation. The new space also provides office space for students and an upgraded conference room. Users of the Core have presented their work at numerous conferences and published their data in a wide range of journals. UCR was instrumental in forming the Inland Empire Stem Cell Consortium to bring together stem cell researchers in our geographic area. We continue to maintain an up-to-date a website for the Core which contains complete information on the facility, as well as the resources and services offered by the Core. The website can be found at www.stemcellcore.ucr.edu. The Core also operates Sales and Service to enable users to buy most items needed for their research directly from the Core. This has been very successful and has facilitated stem cell work on our campus. Our faculty have been using the Core to conduct research dealing with differentiation of bone cells, wound healing, differentiation of endoderm, scaling up procedures for growth of pluripotent stem cells, creating new lines of reporter cells, creating induced pluripotent stem cells, development of 3-dimentsional scaffolds, angiogenesis, and evaluation of environmental toxicants using stem cells. To bring stem cell information to the local community, the Core has been engaged in outreach activities. We have hosted many tours through the Core and provided information and help to others in the Riverside/San Bernardino area who are working with stem cells.