Page 19 - Gates-AnnualReport-2017

NEW iPSC DISCOVERY PLATFORM SPURS RESEARCH AND CREATES
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PHILANTHROPIC PARTNERSHIPS
Select Honors and Publications*
In 2017, the Gates Center established a new Stem Cell Biobank and Disease Modeling Core (see page 35). This core generates banks of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using Ganna Bilousova, Ph.D. and Igor Kogut, Ph.D.’s novel technology as a platform and the iPSCs as tools to understand the underlying basis of diseases that affect tissues that cannot be easily biopsied, such as the brain. This reprogramming technology has already helped fuel the success of federal and state grant applications submitted in 2017 by the Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) iPS Cell Consortium described in the previous article. But it can also be used for many other applications—particularly those in which there is no readily- accessible, affected tissue. Gates Center’s Associate Director Mark Petrash, Ph.D. pointed out the significance of this new approach saying, “Having this capability opens up a new research mechanism with tremendous opportunity.” The following projects using this platform were initiated in 2017, thanks to generous contributions cited below.
• Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) iPS Cell Consortium: Angela Christiano, Ph.D., Anthony Oro, M.D., Ph.D., and Dennis Roop, Ph.D. formed this consortium in 2016, which unites the University of Colorado with Stanford and Columbia Universities in the race to find a treatment for this rare and debilitating skin blistering disease. At the end of 2016, the Consortium agreed to adopt Colorado’s reprogramming technology described above. Funded by the EB Research Partnership, the EB Medical Research Foundation and the Sohana Research Fund.
• Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) Project:
Ganna Billousova, Ph.D., Igor Kogut, Ph.D., Karin Payne, Ph.D., Dennis Roop, Ph. D. and Ellen Elias, M.D. This project will address Ehlers-Danlos syndromes—a group of connective tissue disorders that can be inherited and are varied both in how they affect the body and in their genetic causes, characterized by joint hypermobility (joints that stretch further than normal), skin hyperextensibility (skin that can be stretched further than normal), and tissue fragility. This study examines biopsies from an EDS patient and family members in order to narrow down where to look for mutations. This has led to the creation of an in-vivo model with which to study the disease. This technique will become another new tool to accelerate innovative research into therapies for genetic diseases. Funded by
Wagner and Annalee Schorr.
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Ganna Bilousova, Ph.D. and Igor Kogut, Ph.D., have developed a novel reprogramming technology.