Department of Stem Cell Biology

Projects

Completed Projects:

1. Setting up of an Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cell bank at Institute of Immunohaematology.

Year of completion: 2006

Funding agency: ICMR

Outcome:

Under this project we standardized the technique of cryopreservation of cord blood, used combination of different cryoprotectants to improve the viability of stem cells after long term cryopreservation at -80 0C. We also simultaneously worked on the ex-vivo expansion of cord blood stem cells and achieved a significant expansion using combination of growth factors and stromal cells.

2. Mesenchymal Stem Cells derived from Umbilical cord blood shows promise in the differentiation to Cardiomyocytes.

Year of completion: 2007

Funding agency: DBT

Outcome:

Dr Winston Pereira, under this project formulated a quick and reliable method of isolation of MSC from the Wharton’s Jelly of the Human Umbilical cord. After an extensive phenotypic characterization analysis, he differentiated the MSC into cardiomyocyte lineage using 5-azacytidine, which is a cytosine analog.

3. Ex-vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cell from umbilical cord blood using different combinations of cytokines and their characterization using immunophenotyping and colony forming capacity.

Year of completion: 2009

Funding agency: DBT

Expected outcome:

Under this project we aim to use the cytokines, which will not only act on HSC but also modify the microenvironment to improve the quality of stem cells. The cells so expanded will be characterized on their stem cell hierarchy on the basis of the antigen expression pattern seen on immunophenotyping.