Fundamental Stem Cell Platforms - the discovery engineThe ASCC supports two Fundamental Stem Cell Platforms; embryonic and adult stem cell research. The Platforms are the engine room for basic science and discovery and will generate future therapeutic programs within the ASCC as they reach critical mass or advance their outcomes towards the identification of short, medium or long term therapeutic objectives. The underpinning biological understanding of how, for example, a stem cell continues to divide but also remains able to form other cell types, is essential to eventually harnessing their potential. The Centre's core expertise in the fields of embryonic and adult stem cell technology covers an understanding of the basic biology of stem cells, their potential to turn into other cells and their interaction with the biological control systems in the human body. The Centre will build on this foundation of knowledge to generate broad technologies that have multiple applications. Embryonic Stem Cell PlatformIn 1998, the first human embryonic stem cells were derived. These remarkable cells have an ability to grow indefinitely and also to turn into any cell type in the body. These amazing properties raise hope for the potential of treatments for many diseases. To harness this potential, it is essential that science works out how to grow these cells in the most optimal conditions possible and learns how to direct them to become the cell types required at high efficiency and to high purity. Finally, we need to ensure sources of these cells that are appropriate for clinical use and to work out whether introducing cell types made from human embryonic stem cells will successfully treat disease. The Embryonic Stem Cell Platform of the ASCC represents cutting edge research of international quality. Our researchers are some of the pioneers in this field in the world and have made important contributions to understanding how to grow cells optimally, stably and under defined conditions, as well as generating many of the tools now commonly used to monitor and isolate human embryonic stem cells. In addition, our researchers in this Research Platform have developed techniques for guiding these cells towards specific pathways of development. Adult Stem Cell PlatformResearch on adult stem cells is vital to understanding how tissues and organs are naturally regenerated or repaired following injury or disease. The existence of stem cells in the bone marrow able to completely repopulate the blood has been known for some time and the manipulation of the bone marrow compartment to treat disorders of the blood, including cancer, is well established. However, our understanding of stem cells in most other organs is still in its infancy. Indeed, it was long assumed that only very few organ systems, including the skin, gut and bone marrow, contained stem cells. More recently, it has been shown that even the human brain, which was previously thought only to degenerate after birth, contains stem cells able to become all the cell types of the mature brain. The Australian Stem Cell Centre’s Adult Stem Cell Platform consists of internal and external research groups working on the identification, characterisation and isolation of stem cells from a variety of organs, including the heart, lung, kidney, thymus, and breast. It is anticipated that, with time, a better understanding of what stem cells from these locations are able to replace or repair will either allow the delivery of such cells to a damaged organ or allow us to change the way in which they act within the patient to better respond to damage. It is also possible that we may be able to recruit stem cells from one organ to another within the patient. |
David Trewern Design