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Stars and WorkhorsesA varied future for stem cellsby Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.
He was attempting to study a particular protein thought to have a role in the development of atherosclerosis or clogged arteries, but an illness kept him out of the laboratory for a few days. In that time, the mouse embryonic cells he was manipulating started to change—to become various kinds of tissues in a chaotic process. "I saw all kinds of cell types," said the Baylor College of Medicine assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology. "There were beating structures, neurons, skin. I started to think, 'This is amazing.' I knew this could happen, but once you see it, everything changes." Today, Zwaka is part of a new BCM center bringing together all of the College's researchers working with stem cells. The Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine or STaR Center's director is Margaret Goodell, Ph.D., an associate professor of pediatrics and a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy. Karen Hirschi, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, is deputy director. She is attempting to understand how blood vessels form—a process in which stem cells are intimately involved. "I think rather than being a specialized area of science, stem cell work will touch aspects of many different fields," said Goodell, whose own work centers on the blood-forming or hematopoietic cells that are part of a class called "adult" stem cells because they can be derived from adults, and have already partly differentiated into a particular type of cell. Goodell believes that embryonic stem cell lines grown in culture could become the workhorses of laboratories. Currently, cells grown in culture and used in a variety of experiments are often abnormal in some way. Embryonic stem cells could give better insight into the way that normal cells work together, change and perform their every day function. They could be invaluable in studying how cells respond to different kind of drugs. Adult stem cells are already used in patients who need their bone marrow's blood-forming potential restored. Their use in repairing damaged heart muscle is also under investigation in patients around the world. In the future, the clinical applications will be much more varied, predicted Goodell. For example, Jeffrey Rosen, Ph.D., and Orla Conneely, Ph.D., at BCM are already studying cancer stem cells. "Cancer relapse may be caused by a stem cell-like cell that is maintained even after treatment with chemotherapy," said Goodell. "If we can find ways to target cancer stem cells, then we might truly be able to eliminate cancer. There are investigators at Baylor who are very interested in that, particularly with regard to breast cancer, and we would like to expand this area of research." DeQuan Li, M.D., Ph.D., another BCM researcher, is looking at corneal stem cells with the hope of using them to repair that part of the eye, a "small but important niche in stem cell work," said Goodell. Hirschi too sees stem cells as a tool, and the idea of regenerating tissues that have died or been injured excites her. "I want to know how to use them to improve health and treat disease," she said. The vasculature with which she works is critical to getting nutrients to tissues. "If it is not perfused or getting nutrients and oxygen, it is going to die," said Hirschi. Understanding how stem cells become the various tissues of the body—what signals they receive and give—is critical to recapitulating that for treatment. "It always comes back to the basic biology," she said, which is why studying stem cells of all kinds is so critical. "The STaR Center brings together people studying basic stem cell biology with people who are studying tissue regeneration, imaging and bioengineering. Continued development of all 11 of these fields will be needed to move clinical therapy forward," said Hirschi. She looks forward to the discussions and collaborative projects, some of which are already in the formative stages. "We hope to have a course in stem cell biology and a seminar series with top stem cell researchers from around the world coming here to give talks," said Goodell. "We want to have a core facility where people can receive training in working with stem cells." She also hopes to recruit more stem cell biologists to BCM and to attract students who want to work in the field. They will have the opportunity to work with both embryonic and adult stem cells in an attempt to learn more about how the cells function and how they can best be used clinically. The promise of stem cells remains in the future, and both Goodell and Zwaka warn that no one knows what will happen. Zwaka's is one of a handful of BCM laboratories working in the area of human embryonic stem cells, involving the cell lines approved by the current Administration. "I find it fascinating," said Zwaka. "It is a completely new biological system—a master cell that can turn into other cells by itself." It promises to provide scientists with a way to do sophisticated experiments that can be repeated exactly over and over to ensure that the result is real. "The public thinks of using it to cure disease, and that is what we hope as well," said Zwaka. "There are lots of diseases where a particular cell type dies—Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and diabetes, for example." The answer is more complicated than simply growing these cells in the laboratory and injecting them into patients. Understanding how these cells work and what makes them change from an embryonic cell to a particular type of stem cell is a key step. "How to guide the cell from an embryonic stem cell to a neuron or a cardiac myocyte is a major question," said Zwaka. "We know little about these things now." With the growing numbers of researchers at BCM working in the varied areas of stem cells and the promise of a new Center through which they can learn and interact with one another as well as other scientists in the Texas Medical Center and around the world, many questions may be answered in the next decade. "I foresee a future where this field will permeate every laboratory," said Goodell, "but we need to disseminate the knowledge to achieve that. We see the STaR Center as a mechanism for doing that." The overall mission of the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center is to facilitate and accelerate stem cell research of all types at Baylor College of Medicine, and the clinical translation of such research into regenerative medicine. |
Patient CareA New Medical School for Botswana ResearchStars and Workhorses: A Varied Future for Stem Cells Unfolding the Tiniest Problems EducationCommunity ServiceAlumni & DevelopmentThe Story Behind the Jewish Building From a One-Room School to Medical Research College News
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Volume 2, Issue 1, Spring 2006 |
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Thomas P. Zwaka, M.D., Ph.D., still remembers the first time he saw embryonic stem cells begin to differentiate.