and video on subjects of scientific interest, as well as collaborate with various media, it provides guided tours, a Science Week in Madrid, as well as opportunities for public participation in social and cultural activities related to science. In short, this department works to educate the public about science.
Stacy Chambers
Independent Scholar
See Also: Adult Stem Cells: Overview; Hematopoietic Transplantation: Gene Therapy; Spain; Tissue Regeneration: Humans.
Further Readings
Autonomous University of Madrid. “University and Research Institutions.” http://www.uam.es/ss/Satellite/en/1242665131653/listadoPestanias/University_and_Research_Institutions.htm (Accessed April 2014).
British Broadcasting Company. “Adult Stem Cells ‘Cancer Threat.’” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4465717.stm (Accessed April 2014)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. “Biology and Biomedicine.” http://www.csic.es/web/guest/biologia-y-biomedicina (Accessed April 2014).
Baylor University
Baylor University
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Baylor University
A private Baptist university in Waco, Texas, Baylor University is the oldest university in Texas and one of the oldest universities in the western half of the United States. It was established in 1845, when Texas was an independent Republic not yet annexed by the United States, and its first donors included politician and war hero Sam Houston. Today, it is a member of the Big 12 Conference and is known for its English, law, and science programs, as well as its long history of military partnerships. The university operates a number of professional and postgraduate science programs, including several in partnership with the Medical Department of the U.S. Army. Its research activities and endowment are significant, and the Carnegie Foundation upgraded its research classification to High Research Activity in 2006. Its focus on science combined with its Baptist affiliation help explain its prominence in the scientific community’s debate over “intelligent design,” which has been supported by faculty member Frank Beckwith and former faculty member Bill Dembski.
The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is home to or partners in several stem cell research initiatives, including the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center (STaR Center). The STaR Center was founded in 2005 and includes more than 30 faculty members working in stem cell or regenerative medicine research, including adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and the role of tumor stem cells in cancer relapse. Its stem cell biology course is available to the whole BCM community, and it hosts a number of special seminars and workshops as part of its research facilitation. Specialties of STaR Center faculty members include pluripotent stem cells, human hematopoietic stem cells, cancer stem cells, murine embryonic stem cells, testicular stem cells, stem cell gene expression, mammary tumor stem cells, and corneal stem cells. The director of the STaR Center is Dr. Margaret Goodell, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics. Goodell’s research focus is the basic biology of hematopoietic stem cells, the stem cells that reside in bone marrow. The STaR Center’s graduate programs are conducted in collaboration with the departments of Molecular and Human Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Immunology, Physiology, and Biochemistry, and the interdepartmental programs of Cell and Molecular Biology, Developmental Biology, Translational Biology, and Cardiovascular Sciences.
BCM’s Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core (hES) provides undifferentiated stem cells, hands-on training, and consultation to BCM and Texas Medical Center researchers. Small bimonthly classes (up to three students in a three-day training session) provide laboratory instruction and practice in culturing, expanding, freezing and thawing, and maintaining human embryonic stem cells, as well as instruction in preparing primary mouse embryo fibroblast (MEF) cultures as human embryonic stem cell culture feeders, and methods for culturing human embryonic stem cells without MEFs. Banked and QC-tested cells are offered in various formats, including frozen and six-well plates. The program also conducts quality control testing of cell lines generated at BCM or by collaborators, including teratoma formation assays to prove pluripotency, alkaline phosphatase assays, karyotyping, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting.
The Center for Cell and Gene Therapy was established by the Baylor College of Medicine in 1998 in partnership with Texas Childrens Hospital and Houston Methodist (formerly the Methodist Hospital), and facilitates technology transfer of cell and gene therapy protocols from laboratories to clinics. It provides support in this process from vector development to submission of clinical protocols, with preclinical research focused mainly on transgene regulation, vector targeting, and stem cell biology. Forms of therapy the Center is concerned with include gene therapy, cellular therapy, and transplants of bone marrow and stem cells. The Center consists of six components: the Protocol Office, the Shell Center for Gene Therapy, the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Gene Vector Laboratory (one of three National Gene Vector Laboratories), the GMP Clinical Research Laboratory, the Feigin Center at Texas Childrens Hospital, and the Stem Cell Transplantation Program (SCTP). The SCTP consists of a 16,200-square-foot pediatrics unit at Texas Childrens Hospital (overseen by Dr. Robert Krance) and a 30,000-square-foot adult unit at Houston Methodist (overseen by Dr. Helen Heslop).
Baylor researchers have been involved in a number of important discoveries and studies in stem cell research. In 2010, BCM announced and published a report in the journal Cell Stem Cell confirming the existence of stem cell subtypes of the hematopoietic system, rather than a single stem cell for all blood cells. Refining the conception and understanding of stem cells has serious long-term implications for stem cell treatments. Researchers involved in the study included STaR Center director Goodell, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy associate Dr. Grant Challen, and BCM professors Nathan Boles and Stuart Chambers. A 2014 joint study by BCM and the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern discovered the importance of male and female hormones in the stem cells of sexual organs, and especially the role of estrogen in stem cell self-renewal. A 2013 study authored by BCM’s chair of the Surgery Department, Dr. Todd Rosengart, showed the ways genes can be used to reprogram cardiac scar tissue into healthy heart muscle tissue. The study of adult stem cells in cardiac disease, taken from the patient’s own blood and bone marrow in order to rebuild heart tissue, has been a particular area of focus at BCM. As of a 2008 overview of the school’s contributions, 220 heart failure patients had been treated with stem cell therapy, all of whom survived and saw clinical improvement. BCM developed several FDA-approved protocols in this area.
Bill Kte’pi
Independent Scholar
See Also: Embryonic Stem Cells, Methods to Produce; Texas; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Further Readings
Nakada, Daisuke, Hideyuki Oguro, Boaz P. Levi, et al. “Oestrogen Increases Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Self-Renewal in Females and During Pregnancy.” Nature, v.505/7484 (January 23, 2014).
SoRelle, Ruth. “Stars and Workhorses: A Varied Future for Stem Cells.” Solutions, v.2/1 (Spring 2006).
Urschel,
