Creating a stem cell bank

When you go to a bank and withdraw money you know that the notes you get are all going to look the same and do the same job, namely allow you to buy things. But when you get stem cells for research that’s not necessarily the case. Stem cells bought from different laboratories don’t always look exactly the same or perform the same in research studies.

That’s why CIRM has teamed up with the Coriell Institute and Cellular Dynamics International (CDI) to open what will be the world’s largest publically available stem cell bank. It officially opened today. In September the Bank will have 300 cell lines available for purchase but plans to increase that to 750 by February 2016.

300 lines but no waiting

Now, even if you are not in the market for stem cells this bank could have a big impact on your life because it creates an invaluable resource for researchers looking into the causes of, and potential therapies for, 11 different diseases including autism, epilepsy and other childhood neurological disorders, blinding eye diseases, heart, lung and liver diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The goal of the Bank – which is located at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California – is to collect blood or tissue samples from up to 3,000 volunteer donors. Some of those donors have particular disorders – such as Alzheimer’s – and some are healthy. Those samples will then be turned into high quality iPSCs or induced pluripotent stem cells.

Now, iPSC lines are particularly useful for research because they can be turned into any type of cell in the body such as a brain cell or liver cell. And, because the cells are genetically identical to the people who donated the samples scientists can use the cells to determine how, for example, a brain cell from someone with autism differs from a normal brain cell. That can enable them to study how diseases develop and progress, and also to test new drugs or treatments against defects observed in those cells to see which, if any, might offer some benefits.

Power of iPSCs

In a news release Kaz Hirao, Chairman and CEO of CDI, says these could be game changers:

“iPSCs are proving to be powerful tools for disease modeling, drug discovery and the development of cell therapies, capturing human disease and individual genetic variability in ways that are not possible with other cellular models.”

Equally important is that researchers in different parts of the world will be able to compare their findings because they are using the same cell lines. Right now many researchers use cell lines from different sources so even though they are theoretically the same type of tissue, in practice they often produce very different results.

Improving consistency

CIRM Board Chair, Jonathan Thomas, said he hopes the Bank will lead to greater consistency in results.

“We believe the Bank will be an extraordinarily important resource in helping advance the use of stem cell tools for the study of diseases and finding new ways to treat them. While many stem cell efforts in the past have provided badly needed new tools for studying rare genetic diseases, this Bank represents both rare and common diseases that afflict many Californians. Stem cell technology offers a critical new approach toward developing new treatments and cures for those diseases as well.”

Most banks are focused on enriching your monetary account. This bank hopes to enrich people’s lives, by providing the research tools needed to unlock the secrets of different diseases, and pave the way for new treatments.

For more information on how to buy a cell line go to http://catalog.coriell.org/CIRM or email CIRM@Coriell.org