NL-Funded Project
Abbreviation:
Substitution
Title:
Substitution of the mouse tumorigenicity assay with a complete in vitro microRNA based assay for testing malignancy of human induced pluripotent stem cells.
In short:
See title.
Tags:
Innovation, Human R&D, Diagnostics
Project Details
Funding scheme:
ZonMw – Grant ID 114021504
Time frame:
1 July 2017 to 31 December 2020
Description:
The restorative capacity of human organs is very limited if not absent. As a result, diseases such as diabetes and heart failure occur when sufficient numbers of organ-specific cells fail due to damage. Organ transplantation can lead to cure, but availability of donor tissue is limited. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), like embryonic stem cells, can be propagated in culture and then stimulated to specialize in one of approximately 220 cell types of the human body. hiPSCs can be isolated from a patient, expanded and transplanted back after specialization. No rejection reaction then occurs. Therefore, hiPSCs are the ideal candidate cells for regenerative medicine. However, they can also develop into malignant tumors. Therefore, hiPSCs are first tested in mice. In this project, an alternative assay, replacing animal testing, is being explored. GenomeScan contributes to the project by developing and validating micro RNA genome-wide assay.
Output:
T.b.a. (ongoing project)
Acknowledgements:
This work is part of the ZonMW research programme with project number 114021504, which is (partly) funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
