SBS 2009
Stem Cell Symposium
Boston, Massachusetts
September 2-3, 2009
|
|
Program Overview
Stem cells and regenerative medicine is an emerging field of drug-discovery research.
Reprogramming somatic cells to a pluripotent state could generate a rich supply of patient-specific stem
cells and mature cells for regenerative medicine and compound screening. It has been shown that viral-
mediated gene delivery of four transcription factors, including two potential oncogenes, can directly
reprogram somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Unfortunately, the resulting iPS cells are unsuitable for many therapeutic applications because the viral
transgenes can spontaneously reactivate a process that has led to tumor formation. Therefore, discovering
small molecules through high-throughput technologies capable of reprogramming cells -- without relying on
viruses or oncogenes -- would be extremely valuable to therapeutic applications.
Furthermore, using stepwise differentiations of pluripotent cells and/or embryonic stem cells to terminally
differentiated functional cells via small molecule treatment would be useful for transplantation therapy,
identifying targets for drug discovery and for toxicology testing. High-throughput screening (HTS) and high-
content screening (HCS) technologies against stem cells offer great potential for indentifying novel small
molecules to reprogram cells and to induce formation of terminally differentiated functional cells.
|
|
