ZonMw recently awarded funding for six breakthrough projects in stem cell research. These studies by young researchers are now in the starting blocks or will soon be launched. Medics, technicians, chemists and physicists are challenged to realize breakthrough stem cell projects, from innovative idea to proof-of-concept. Research with stem cells is current and promising and several large facilities have been set up, including in Leiden and Maastricht, to realize research for regenerative medicine, for example.
Forming mini-organs with stem cells
The ZonMw website briefly explains which studies are concerned. ‘All researchers of the six projects that have been awarded funding are doing research with induced pluripotent stem cells. These are cells that have been transformed from a normal body cell into a stem cell, a cell that can form any type of tissue. With these stem cells, the researchers can, for example, create embryo-like models or mini-organs in order to better understand early development or hereditary disorders.’
Growing mini brains
One study examines the differences between men and women regarding neurodevelopmental disorders using iPSC models. In many conditions, women have different symptoms than men. Because these conditions develop so early, it is unlikely that hormones alone are involved, other factors must be involved. For the research, neurons and mini-brains are cultured with cells from men and women.
Hereditary heart conditions
Another study is developing a model to detect mutations in hereditary heart disease. A process has been developed for this in which stem cells are used to create heart cells with patient-specific mutations. In the current set-up, the trajectory is shorter and advice can be given to the doctor about the seriousness of the mutation within three months. This study mainly concerns patients with hereditary cardiac arrhythmias.
A third study also focuses on hereditary heart problems. The famous CRISPR method is used here. ‘By systematically switching off each gene of the genome one by one in stem cells, which then differentiate into heart cells, it is possible to find out which genes are important for the normal development of the heart cell. A human CRISPR library will be used for the knockout of each gene. The fourth research in this line of research is about a new approach to understanding genetic diseases.’
In addition to these four, there are two other second-line studies that attempt to develop embryos. This includes imitating 3D embryo-like structures in a culture dish. If you want to know more about these six state-of-the-art breakthrough projects, you can visit the ZonMw website.