Stem Cell Training for scientists and student (undergraduate and graduate students)

Summary

training of students and scientist with diverse backgrounds is needed to hasten the speed and increase the quality of stem cell research in Georgia.

Situation

The impact of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) on developmental and cell therapy research will be immeasurable over the ensuing decades. A workshop that today trains postdoctoral fellows early in their research careers, provides technical support or retrains more senior investigators in this rapidly changing area of human stem cell biology will have a substantial long-term impact on the development of hESC derived products and our understanding of basic cell biology. The University of Georgia recognizes this opportunity and has provided over 1 million dollars in equipment to the hESC core facility in support of hESC activities at this institution, and our collaborators at the Whitehead Institute have invested similarly in the training and research of hESC.

Response

We envisage that the Human Embryonic Stem Cells Toolbox workshop will continue to bring scientists with training in embryology, developmental biology, tissue engineering, or cell biology together to learn the intricate details, the “how to” and theory of hESC's self renewal from our faculty of experts. The overall goal of this proposal is to utilize the HEST workshop to provide detailed “hands on” training to enhance the participants' future success in obtaining more uniform analysis and results in their hESCs.

Impact

We have conducted five HEST workshops at the time of this submission and another full workshop was conducted May and November of 2007. In total seven HEST workshops will be completed during the four years of he grant. In total we have trained 110 investigators during the first three HEST workshops. We have provided continuous access to our instructors and we have answered over 500 emails for participants from the first seven HEST workshops. Through a corporate sponsorship we have provided pluripotent antibodies to Oct4, SSEA 1, 3 and 4 and Alkaline Phosphatase We have also supplied several participants with additional BG01 cells under written permission from BresaGen, Inc., and lastly, we have provide culture and feeder cells to participants under a cost plus reimbursement. An original goal that the NIH program manager and Dr Stice envisioned was to have the HEST Workshop serve in part as a regional Workshop so as to encourage hESC research in the Southeast. Also it was likely that the other T-15 Workshops in other regions of the US and world would also provide regional workshops. This unstated aim has been achieved as well. Approximately a third of the participants have come from Southeast or Southern institutions including Emory, Georgia Tech, Morehouse School of Medicine (an underrepresented institution) Baylor School of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia and North Carolina University, as well as companies headquartered in Georgia (Chemicon) and Alabama. Ten of the participants for the last Georgia HEST workshop (Oct 2007) are from Georgia, Florida and North Carolina institutions. However, by no means has it been restricted to the Southeast, since other participants have come from India, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Demark. In the future the HEST workshop will be conducted at both the University of Georgia and the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Undergraduates have always been a part of this workshop and this year as usual more five undergraduates participated and conducted research with our laboratory and Dr Stice was recognized by CURO for his contribution to undergraduate research opportunities.

State Issue

Food, Nutrition and Health

Details

• Year: 2007
• Geographic Scope: International
• County: Clarke
• Program Areas:
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources