The Coriell Institute for Medical Research has reached a significant benchmark with its induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell program.
Already possessing the largest publicly available collection of human iPS cell lines, Coriell has crossed the 100 iPS cell line threshold and continues to stimulate important biomedical research at the international level.
"This development signifies that the Institute is moving in an important new direction," says Dr. Michael Christman, President and CEO of Coriell.
"iPS cell exploration is fast-tracked as an area of exciting possibility, and the team at Coriell remains focused on producing outstanding-quality cells for scientists," Dr. Christman adds.
Characterized by the ability to transform from skin and blood cells into any cell type in the body after reprogramming, iPS cells are immensely powerful research assets and can be used to more accurately model human disease, particularly as evidenced by the disease-in-a-dish model, as well as provide insights for drug discovery.
Coriell currently features 102 human iPS cell lines across two major biorepositories: the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Human Genetics DNA and Cell Line Repository and the Human Genetic Cell Repository, sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The cell lines represent a range of diseases, including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, ALS, and other heritable disorders.
In 2013, Coriell received a $10M research grant award from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), a primary funder of stem cell science, and partnered with Cellular Dynamics International, a pioneering expert in the field, to establish 9,000 high-grade iPS cell lines.
To accommodate this new resource, Coriell launched a West Coast satellite facility earlier this year and began processing samples from subjects enrolled at several of the nation's top academic centers, including Stanford University, UCLA, UC San Francisco and UC San Diego.
Coriell California is poised to initiate iPS cell line distribution in early 2015.
