The intestinal lining is continuously renewed by specialised cells called intestinal stem cells. Stem cells throughout the body are regulated by nearby connective tissues. But, the identity of these supportive cells in the gut are unknown. We test whether a discrete population of connective tissue cells in the gut support intestinal stem cells. This project will identify new cellular therapies and targets to promote intestinal repair and manage intestinal cancer.
Generation Of Human Intestinal Stem Cells By Direct Reprogramming
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$630,391.00
Summary
Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) can give rise to mini guts in vitro with exciting applications for drug screening and cell based regenerative medicine. However, currently the establishment of mini gut cultures requires an invasive procedure. By taking advantage of a revolutionary new predictive algorithm (Mogrify) we will generate ISC directly from somatic and pluripotent cell sources.
Building An Intestine: Manipulating Regeneration Of The Epithelium
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$609,424.00
Summary
Diseases, infections and pathologies are common clinical problems of the intestinal lining in both infants and adults. Individuals with these conditions can experience nutritional problems and severe cases result in death. The intestinal lining is generated from a small population of stem cells. In this study we use of a mouse model where the stem cells are marked and will examine what factors regulate stem cells in the intestine with the aim of facilitating intestinal tissue regeneration.
Haematopoietic Stem Cells From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: The Future Of Bone Marrow Transplantation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$763,845.00
Summary
Blood stem cell transplantation is a vital therapy for patients with leukaemia following chemotherapy or for patients with bone marrow failure. Because many patients lack a donor, there is a need for an alternate source of stem cells. My laboratory will make blood stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells that will treat patients needing a transplant and will be a useful research tool to help us to understand what goes wrong in the blood system in a range of illnesses.
Can Human Neural Stem Cells Form Enteric Nerves In Human Hirschsprungs Disease Colon?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$598,815.00
Summary
The intestine has its own nervous system which develops from cells that migrate into the intestine during early development. Sometimes this does not work and part of the bowel has no nerves and cannot function. This is treated now by cutting out this bad bowel and joining the sections of good bowel. But it may be possible to grow new nerves in the bad bowel using stem cells. This project aims to test whether this treatment, which would avoid loss of bowel, is possible.
Adult and embryonic stem cells have enormous therapeutic potential. Haemopoietic stem cells have been the most intensely studied and widely used in a therapeutic setting, yet we have only a patchy knowledge of the genes required for their proliferation and survival. I will use classical genetic screens in the mouse to identify genes that regulate stem cell behaviour. I will analyse two existing mutant mouse strains with reduced numbers of haemopoietic stem cells, and execute a novel genetic scre ....Adult and embryonic stem cells have enormous therapeutic potential. Haemopoietic stem cells have been the most intensely studied and widely used in a therapeutic setting, yet we have only a patchy knowledge of the genes required for their proliferation and survival. I will use classical genetic screens in the mouse to identify genes that regulate stem cell behaviour. I will analyse two existing mutant mouse strains with reduced numbers of haemopoietic stem cells, and execute a novel genetic screen utilising mice with a defect in the self-renewal of adult haemopoietic and neural stem cells, to find mice with a recovered stem cell compartment.Read moreRead less
Using Direct Reprogramming To Generate And Rejuvenate Haematopoietic Stem Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,026,313.00
Summary
One of the greatest promises of regenerative medicine lies in our ability to reprogram any cell type of the body into any other cell type. Transdifferentiation is the conversion of one adult cell type to another and it is believed to be the next frontier in regenerative medicine therapies since it can be used in vivo for the direct conversion of one cell type into another. The outcomes of this grant will push the limits of these technologies to generate new regenerative medicine strategies.
Generating Haematopoietic Stem Cells From Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$872,215.00
Summary
Blood stem cell transplantation is a vital therapy for patients with leukaemia following chemotherapy or for patients with bone marrow failure. Because many patients lack a donor, there is a need for an alternate source of stem cells. Using a new approach that we have developed, our laboratories will make blood stem cells from human pluripotent stem cells that will treat patients needing a transplant.