Stem Cell Biotechnologies
Team:
Yacine Laâbi : "Stem cells biotechnlogies" Lab head (CECS)
Johana Tournois : Associate engineer (CECS)
Julien Côme : Associate engineer (CECS)
Pascal Fragner : Associate scientist (CECS)
Nelly Sigrist : Research Technician (CECS)
Because of their two fundamental characteristics, unlimited self-renewal and pluripotency, human embryonic stem cells (hES) are considerably interesting for a use in regenerative medicine and for the identification of new pharmacological molecules. The "Stem Cell Biotechnologies" platform is a collaborative platform within I-Stem whose research and development programs are organized into 4 main activities:
Banking and preservation of human embryonic stem cell lines
Amplification and banking of hES cell lines carrying the causal mutations of monogenic diseases
In collaboration with the centre of Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis of Strasbourg led by Stephane Viville, our action is to build a bank of hES cells carrying mutations. In the CHU of Strasbourg, Philippe Tropel, under the direction of Stéphane Viville, derives hES lines from embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization. These embryos analyzed by a pre-implantation diagnosis carry mutant genes responsible for monogenic diseases. These lines are established in Strasbourg then transferred to I-Stem where they follow the same process as for the lines imported before being cryopreserved and banked by our team.
The creation of a wide variety of hES lines corresponding to various diseases and mutations will allow the study of the physiopathology, the phenotype / genotype interactions and the development of treatments for these pathologies and in parallel, the systematic screening of chemical libraries of compounds with a therapeutic potential. Such cell lines should provide new and powerful models for the study of monogenic diseases. Moreover, these cell lines will be made available to the scientific community.
Quality control of hES cell lines in I-Stem
The banking of I-Stem’s hES cell lines is determined by a process of quality control which allows us to analyze:
- the genetic identity of the cells by amplifying 9 STR loci by multiplex PCR
- their genetic stability by checking their karyotype either by G-banding or by M-FISH
- their undifferentiated state by analyzing the expression of phenotypic markers such as SSEA-4 and TRA-1-81 by flow cytometry
- their contamination status in particular the absence of mycoplasma
New models of human pluripotent stem cells lines
It is possible to derive pluripotent stem cell lines from adult human cells, for example skin fibroblasts, instead of using embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization. This process called reprogramming allows the derivation of induced pluripotent stem cell lines ( iPS ) which harbour all the characteristics of hES cell lines. Our research program aims at deriving iPS cell lines from fibroblasts obtained from patients diagnosed for monogenic diseases and for which there are no hES cell lines counterpart.
Quality control of hES cell lines in I-Stem
The banking of I-Stem’s hES cell lines is determined by a process of quality control which allows us to analyze:- the genetic identity of the cells by amplifying 9 STR loci by multiplex PCR
- their genetic stability by checking their karyotype either by G-banding or by M-FISH
- their undifferentiated state by analyzing the expression of phenotypic markers such as SSEA-4 and TRA-1-81 by flow cytometry
- their contamination status in particular the absence of mycoplasma
