The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has released two novel induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines for researchers studying Alzheimer’s disease. The lines, like the rest of biosamples offered by the NIA, will be housed and distributed by the Coriell Institute for Medical Research.
The new lines originated as biosamples donated by patients with the devastating degenerative brain disease and were reprogrammed here at Coriell to a pluripotent state. The new pluripotent stem cells allow researchers unmatched flexibility to study the disease as they can be coaxed into becoming any type of cell in the body.
The NIA repository at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research is a resource facilitating cellular and molecular research studies on the mechanisms of aging and the degenerative processes associated with it. The repository was established in 1974 and the cells in this resource have been collected using strict diagnostic criteria and banked under the highest quality standards of cell culture.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, a national advocacy nonprofit, more than 5 million Americans have been diagnosed with the disease and that number could be as high as 16 million by the year 2050.
