Embryonic Stem Cells & Regeneration

The overall research goal of Stemagen is to properly harness the generation and utilization of patient-specific stem cells.  These are expected to lead ultimately to both therapeutic treatments and drug discoveries that will allow significant improvements in the quality and length of life for affected patients.  Progress in this area of stem cell biology requires the development of expertise and new techniques in the isolation, culture, and manipulation of cells that have the capacity to differentiate into most of the 220 types of cells found in the human body.

In this regard, Stemagen has built strong partnerships with medical specialists who have wide experience in embryology and stem cell biology. 

Our research is focused on three core areas:

Embryology involving platform development to maintain and improve the viability of early human embryos, including the ability to “bank” early embryos through advanced vitrification techniques and to detect abnormalities in early embryonic development.

Generation of new human stem cell lines where the goal is to improve the efficiency of human stem cell generation including the removal of animal pathogens from all culture conditions and the devising of new alternative strategies for the isolation of stem cell lines without the destruction of the starting materials.

Advanced Embryo Micromanipulation where nuclear transfer (NT) is used to derive genotype-specific human embryonic stem cells for therapeutic application or the ability to replace defective or damaged cells through cell replacement therapies and to allow improved diagnostic screening for cures specifically targeted to the treatment of particular diseases.

Collaborations with various academic and private institutions have been established to further improve the understanding and characterization of these unique cell types, particularly in reference to disease and genotype status.