Animal Embryonic Stem Cells

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The study of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells has provided unparalleled insights into the regulation of pluripotency, self-renewal, growth and differentiation. However, studies in the mouse alone cannot provide answers to many important questions in mammalian biology. There is a pressing need to develop analogous ES cell lines from other mammals in order to construct new biological paradigms in areas where a mouse model is inappropriate. For example, translation of human ES cell research into the clinic will require extensive testing in physiologically relevant animals. Larger animals such as the rat or pig are commonly used for testing therapeutic protocols and could provide important systems to test stem cell-based treatments.
Bona fide ES cultures from species other than mouse or primates have not yet been reported. However, recent advances in stem cell cell biology may provide new generic methods for the derivation of stem cell lines from mammals. This programme aims to apply these novel approaches to the derivation of pluripotent cell lines from rat and pig. These approaches include: a) the utilisation of defined culture conditions using serum free medium in combination with specific self-renewal cytokines or chemical inhibitors of differentiation pathways b) derivation of stem cell lines from early and late blastocysts to promote the islolation of inner cell mass and epiblast derivative cell lines, and c) use of the ¿ground breaking¿ direct reprogramming technology developed by Shinya Yamanaka and his colleagues using four master stem cell genes to convert somatic cells into a pluripotent ES cell-like state. This timely initiative will continue Roslin Institute¿s world-leading research in the area of animal transgenesis and reprogramming. Success of this programme will ensure early access to a unique sets of reagents within the EBRC and provide competitive advantage in Animal Biology and Biomedicine at the national and international level.

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