A pair of new induced pluripotent stem cell lines has been added to the Aging Cell Repository, a collection of biomaterials sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA).
One of the new stem cell lines represents Alzheimer’s disease and is the third line of its type representing the devastating neurodegenerative disease in the collection. The second line recently added to the collection represents Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare and deadly condition that arises in young children. With this addition, the NIA Aging Cell Repository now offers two stem cell lines for this syndrome.
These stem cell lines were created in the Coriell Institute for Medical Research’s Stem Cell Laboratory from skin cells donated by people afflicted by these disorders. The skin cells are carefully guided back to a stem cell state by manipulating a small number of genes. From there, they can be coaxed into developing into just about any cell type in the body, allowing researchers to investigate many different cell types.
“Induced pluripotent stem cells have become critical in the biomedical researcher’s tool box,” Ellen Kelly, PhD, the Coriell program director who oversees the collection, said. “They offer scientists biological materials that would be difficult to access by any other means, such as living brain cells from a patient with Alzheimer’s disease. Because of that value to the scientific community, we at Coriell in partnership with the NIA are working tirelessly to make more and more of these lines available.”
The Aging Cell Repository was established in 1974 and today holds thousands of biological samples representing apparently healthy people across the age spectrum, as well as various disorders associated with aging and animal models of aging. The samples are housed and distributed from the Coriell Institute.
About the Coriell Institute for Medical Research
Founded in 1953, the Coriell Institute for Medical Research is a nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving human health through biomedical research. Coriell scientists lead research in personalized medicine, cancer biology, epigenetics, and the genomics of opioid use disorder. Coriell also hosts one of the world's leading biobanks—comprised of collections for the National Institutes of Health, disease foundations and private clients—and distributes biological samples and offers research and biobanking services to scientists around the globe. To facilitate drug discovery and disease study, the Institute also develops and distributes collections of induced pluripotent stem cells. For more information, visit Coriell.org.
