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Stem Cells
Stem cells are defined by the ability to self-renew extensively and to generate all the mature cell types of a particular tissue. They hold great promise for treating diseases, either by replacing cells that have been lost through degeneration or by eliminating improperly functioning cells that may underlie certain diseases.
 Children's combined research and clinical facility, the William and Shirley Howard Hematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratory, serves the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Program at Children's National Medical Center. The laboratory provides state-of-the-art stem cell processing, including stem cell selection. An ongoing Investigational Device Exemption from the FDA to participate in pre-market testing of the CliniMACs cell selection device for use in patients with acute leukemia and a plastic anemia has been expanded to include Fanconi’s anemia. In addition, the laboratory performs stem cell processing procedures for numerous clinical stem cell transplantation trials employing peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood stem cells. The laboratory is also participating in a Phase I project at the Washington Hospital Center, employing stem cells in the treatment of chronic cardiac ischemia.
Research on muscle stem cells is pursued by Terence Partridge, MD, recently recruited from the Medical Research Center in Hammersmith Hospital, England. Dr. Partridge is a leader in the characterization of muscle stem cells, and their use in experimental therapeutics. Examples of research projects can be found at the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy and Department of Defense Program Project.
 Olcay Y. Jones, MD, PhD Chief of Rheumatology, is actively involved in patient care and basic research related to the treatment of autoimmune diseases with stem cell transplantation, currently using the BXSB lupus mice model. Through Dr. Jones’ efforts, we are also a member of Childhood Arthritis Rheumatism and Research Alliance, a national research consortium in pediatric rheumatology.
The research interests of the Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Immunology (Naynesh R. Kamani, MD, and Brett J. Loechelt, MD) include the study of immune reconstitution in patients following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and the impact of donor immunologic cell chimerism on immune recovery post-transplantation in children with primary immune deficiencies. Additional research investigations focusing on the impact of CD34+ cell selection on engraftment, leukemia recurrence and immune recovery following HSCT are underway.
 Neural stem cells have been identified in both the fetal and adult central nervous system (CNS). David M. Panchision, PhD, is investigating signals, such as oxygen tension, that control stem cell survival, amplification and specification in the embryonic and postnatal CNS. His laboratory uses flow cytometry and a specialized environmental control incubation system to regulate oxygen levels and temperature during all phases of cell culture and experimentation. These comparative studies between rodent and human precursors have important implications for understanding the control of stem cells during development and also for optimizing their production and differentiation for stem cell-based replacement therapies.
Vittorio Gallo, PhD, is investigating the cellular and physiological properties of NG2-expressing cells, which are the largest population of neural progenitors in the postnatal brain. He is particularly interested in the developmental relationship between NG2+ cells and other cell types previously characterized in the subventricular zone (SVZ), a region that gives rise to new neurons after birth and into adulthood. His laboratory is investigating the signals in different brain regions that control the differentiation of NG2+ cells into GABA-releasing inhibitory neurons or myelinating oligodendrocytes that that facilitate neuronal function. Finally, Dr. Gallo is using transplantation techniques to determine whether NG2+ progenitors can be used for cell repair in models of childhood diseases such as epilepsy.
For more information contact:
Stephan Ladisch, MD
Vice Chair for
External Affairs, Department of Pediatrics
Children's Research Institute
Center for Cancer and Immunology Research
Children's National Medical Center
111 Michigan Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20010
202-476-3898
202-476-3929 fax
sladisch@cnmc.org
Vittorio Gallo, PhD
Director
Center for Neuroscience Research
Children’s Research Institute
Children's National Medical Center
111 Michigan Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20010
202-476-4996
202-476-4988 fax
vgallo@cnmc.org
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