NEWS FLASH

1. Director Owen Witte and colleagues received a $2.25 million grant to study prostate cancer stem cells and better define the role they play in cancer development, drug resistance and disease recurrence. UCLA was one of eight groups chosen from a nationwide pool of more than 100 proposals by the Prostate Cancer Foundation to receive a 2008 Challenge Award.

2. Hong Wu and BSCRC Investigators identified a type of leukemia stem cell and uncovered the molecular and genetic mechanisms that cause a normal blood stem cells to become cancerous. The discovery may lead to new therapies that target these leukemia stem cells, attacking the disease at its very root and killing the early cells that give rise to the mature cancer cells. The study appears in the May 22, 2008 issue of the journal Nature.

3. BSCRC receives ~$20 million grant to create stem cell laboratories and innovative core resources to support basic to translational stem cell research.

4. UCLA BSCRC Investigators Create Heart and Blood Cells from Reprogrammed Skin Cells
Robb MacLellan and colleagues new discovery may lead to new treatments for coronary artery disease, heart attacks, and heart failure. The finding, published in Stem Cells is the first to show that induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells, which don’t involve the use of embryos or eggs, can be differentiated into the three types of cardiovascular cells needed to repair the heart and blood vessels.

5. Broad Stem Cell Research Center Investigators Identify Genetic Differences in hESC that could Control Individual Traits and Disease Susceptability
Michael Teitell, Hao Wu, and colleagues used a high resolution technique to examine the genome of a pair of human embryonic stem cell lines and found that while both lines could form neurons, the lines had differences in the numbers of certain genes that could control such things as individual traits and disease susceptibility. The technique used to study the genome, which contains all the genes on 46 chromosomes, is called array CGH. The use of higher resolution techniques, such as array CGH and, soon, whole genome sequencing, will enhance the ability of researchers to examine stem cell lines to determine which are best – least likely to result in diseases and other problems – to use in creating therapies for use in humans.

6. Broad Stem Cell Center Researchers Reprogram Human Skin Cells Into Cells with the same Properties as Human Embryonic Stem Cells
UCLA Broad Stem Cell Center scientists Kathrin Plath and William Lowry, used genetic alteration to turn back the clock on human skin cells and create cells that are nearly identical to human embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to become every cell type found in the human body. Four regulator genes were used to create the cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells.

7. The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Donates $20M to UCLA Stem Cell Institute      

WELCOME

The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA is committed to a multi-disciplinary, campus-wide, integrated, collaboration of scientific, academic, and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The Center supports innovation, excellence, and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed towards future clinical applications in the treatment of disease.

WHY STUDY STEM CELLS?

“Research on stem cells is advancing knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms. This promising area of science is also leading scientists to investigate the possibility of cell-based therapies to treat disease, which is often referred to as regenerative or reparative medicine.”

“It has been hypothesized by scientists that stem cells may, at some point in the future, become the basis for treating diseases such as Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and heart disease.

“Scientists want to study stem cells in the laboratory so they can learn about their essential properties and what makes them different from specialized cell types. As scientists learn more about stem cells, it may become possible to use the cells not just in cell-based therapies, but also for screening new drugs and toxins and understanding birth defects. …[H]uman embryonic stem cells have only been studied since 1998. Therefore, in order to develop such treatments scientists are intensively studying the fundamental properties of stem cells, which include:

1. determining precisely how stem cells remain unspecialized and self renewing for many years; and
2. identifying the signals that cause stem cells to become specialized cells. "

- National Institutes of Health, Stem Cell Basics, http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/basics/basics1.asp

CONTACT US

Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
Box 957357
Los Angeles, California 90095-7357
310.825.4958

 

MEDIA RELATIONS CONTACT
Ms. Kim Irwin
Director, Media Relations
8-956 Factor Building
10833 Le Conte Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1781
Phone: (310) 206-2805
Fax: (310) 206-5553
Pager: 1-800-233-7231, PIN# 93533
Email: kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu

 

UCLA Stem Cell Training Grant Course: The objective of this course is to provide students with current knowledge of embryonic and adult stem cells and how these pluripotent/multipotent populations can be used to treat congenital defects, diseases, or injury in humans as well as the ethical, regulatory, and legal issues related to stem cell research.