Project Objective: Research Insights
Using human induced pluripotent stem cells to improve our understanding of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and generally fatal disease that causes scarring of the lungs and therefore an inability to breathe. Its true prevalence is unknown, as it may go unrecognized for many years, but it is generally thought to affect more than 200,000 people in the USA and is five times more […]
iPSC-derived Hepatocytes as Platforms for Research in Viral Hepatitis and Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis
Hepatitis C and fatty liver disease are the two most common liver diseases in California. Individuals from different backgrounds are susceptible to these liver diseases, but they have unique genetic profiles that may influence the severity of disease and the response to specific therapies. Technology now makes it possible to generate stem cells from a […]
In Utero Embryonic Stem Cell Transplantation to Treat Congenital Anomalies
Many fetuses with congenital blood stem cell disorders such as sickle cell disease or thalassemia are prenatally diagnosed early enough in pregnancy to be treated with stem cell transplantation. The main benefit to treating these diseases before birth is that the immature fetal immune system may accept transplanted cells without needing to use immunosuppressant drugs […]
Human iPSC modeling and therapeutics for degenerative peripheral nerve disease
The applicant is an MD/PhD trained physician scientist, whose clinical expertise is neuromuscular disorders including peripheral nerve disease. The proposal is aimed at providing a research proposal and career development plan that will allow the applicant to develop an independent research program, which attempts to bring stem cell based therapies to patients with peripheral nerve […]
Enhancing hair cell regeneration in mouse and human inner ear
Hearing loss (HL) is a permanent sensory disorder affecting over 278 million people worldwide. In the US and California, 20% of individuals suffer from this sensory deficit. Those affected range from newborns (2 per 1000), to children aged 3-17 (5 per 1000), to adults including the elderly (~33% in aged 65-74 and ~50% >85 years […]
Stem cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease
One of the most promising approaches that physicians foresee for treating human disease is regenerative medicine. A major aim in this field is to restore function by repairing damaged organs. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic disease characterized by intermittent episodes of intestinal inflammation and disruption of the intestinal epithelial barrier. It causes significant […]
White matter neuroregeneration after chemotherapy: stem cell therapy for “chemobrain”
Chemotherapy for cancer is often life saving, but it also causes a debilitating syndrome of impaired cognition characterized by deficits in attention, concentration, information processing speed, multitasking and memory. As a result, many cancer survivors find themselves unable to return to work or function in their lives as they had before their cancer therapy. These […]
Human endothelial reprogramming for hematopoietic stem cell therapy.
The current roadblocks to hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) therapies include the rarity of matched donors for bone marrow transplant, engraftment failures, common shortages of donated blood, and the inability to expand HSCs ex vivo in large numbers. These major obstacles would cease to exist if an extensive, bankable, inexhaustible, and patient-matched supply of blood were […]
Regulation of Epidermal Self-Renewal and Differentiation by Histone and DNA Demethylases.
Tissue specific stem and progenitor cells exist to replenish the tissue it resides during normal homeostasis or during regeneration from a wound. Disease and aging leads to a depletion of these stem and progenitor cells, which can impede the ability of the body to regenerate itself. Thus, an understanding of the mechanisms of how tissue […]
Epigenetic regulation of human cardiac differentiation
Each cell type in our body has its own identity. This identity allows a heart cell to contract repetitively, and a brain cell to conduct nerve impulses. Each cell type gains its identity by turning on or off thousands of genes that together give the cell its identity. Understanding how these sets of genes are […]