Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Core Tools and Fees

Description/Facilities Other Resources: The Raymond G. Perelman Center for Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics established the Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Core in 2008 to serve the research needs of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania, and outside research communities in the field of human pluripotent stem cell (PSC) biology. The Core occupies 1500 square feet on the fifth floor of the Colket Translational Research Building, and it serves the entire CHOP and University of Pennsylvania community with distribution of NIH-approved ESC lines and available iPSC lines made with patient cells of clinical interest. The Core has generated over 13 control and more than 200 iPSC lines from patients of interest. Both ESCs and iPSCs display virtually unlimited self-renewal in culture; can be induced to differentiate into mature tissues derived from all three germ layers, including blood, liver, cardiomyocyte, and neurons; and can be genetically manipulated using genome-editing technologies. The Core has standard operating procedures for PSC growth and maintenance, differentiation to germ layer and derivative tissue of interest, and genome editing technologies including CRISPR-CAS9. Accordingly, these cell lines offer great long-term promise in the fields of tissue engineering for cell-based therapeutics and regenerative medicine. The Core also provides hands-on enrichment/training courses for investigators interested in learning how to establish and work with iPSCs. This is a well-attended training course from investigators both on the CHOP-Penn campus and nationally and internationally.