Page 36 - Gates-AnnualReport-2018

Gates Center team reported development of a more efficient approach to reprogramming a patient’s diseased skin cells into stem cells: Igor Kogut, Ph.D., Ganna Bilousova, Ph.D., and Dennis Roop, Ph.D.
STEM CELL BIOBANK AND DISEASE MODELING CORE
In 2017, the Gates Center also established a new Stem Cell Biobank and Disease Modeling Core. This core was established on the basis of the development of a more efficient approach to reprogramming a patient’s diseased skin cells into stem cells by a team of scientists at the Gates Center, Ganna Bilousova, Ph.D., assistant professor of dermatology, Igor Kogut, Ph.D., assistant professor of dermatology, and Gates Center Director Dennis Roop, Ph.D. The process, which was described in a paper published in Nature Communications in February, 2018, reports a clinically safe approach that consistently reprograms healthy and disease-associated patient’s skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with an unprecedented efficiency (see photo).
This core, which is co-directed by Drs. Bilousova and Kogut, achieved significant progress and recognition in 2018, helping to advance the cause of effective treatment for some of the world’s most debilitating and intractable diseases. The core, which offers complete services related to the production of high-quality human iPSCs from patient-derived somatic cells, also found success in building further collaborations with numerous departments on campus. Additionally, it inspired donors to contribute toward the “iPSC Discovery Platform” and the “Director’s Innovation Fund” to support various research projects described on page 36. Twelve projects in the center’s research pipeline are attributable to the core facility, which is making iPSC lines safely and efficiently at one-third the cost charged by others. In addition to serving on-campus research, the core is producing cell lines for research teams at Stanford University, Columbia University, and universities in France, among other nations.
We have been using reprogrammed induced pluripotent stem cells produced by Dr. Bilousova and Dr. Kogut in order to study the development of heart defects. They have been able to use cells from amniotic fluid, collected at birth from infants with specific congenital heart defects and cells collected from urine from subjects with Down syndrome. Both of these are non-invasive methods of cell collection, allowing us to study cell lines from many infant and pediatric subjects. This core is easy to work with, fast, and reasonably priced. Cells we have obtained from this core expand very quickly and we have been able to differentiate these into cardiomyocytes and other heart cells with high efficiency.
- Jeff Jacot, Ph.D.
36 Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine