Encyclopedia of Embryonic Stem Cells (6/28/2007)

An international consortium of scientists, led in part by a USC researcher, published the largest existing survey comparing genetic and chemical traits of human embryonic stem cell lines from around the world.

"You could call this an encyclopedia of embryonic stem cells," said Martin Pera, director of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and member of the International Stem Cell Initiative steering committee.

The study, which will appear in the July issue of Nature Biotechnology and is now available online, compared 59 lines of stem cells from 17 laboratories around the world and assessed the similarities and differences in the expression of many common molecular markers.

Researchers also identified certain cell surface antigens and developmentally regulated genes that characterize all human embryonic stem cell lines isolated to date, despite the cell lines' variety of genetic backgrounds and growth conditions. The similarities identified in the study will help set benchmarks for future stem cell work, Pera said.

The next phase of the initiative will be to assess the various forms of culture media upon which stem cells are grown, as well as address the genetic stability of stem cell lines, Pera said. The huge scope of research the initiative addresses necessitates the large-scale international collaboration between stem call research entities, he added.

The study, led by professor Peter Andrews from the University of Sheffield in Britain, will be an excellent springboard for future stem cell characterization and research, leaders of the initiative said.

The International Stem Cell Initiative is a working group of the International Stem Cell Forum, which aims to encourage collaboration and support in the development of new stem cell applications. U.S. research entities, including the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, are heavily involved in the forum.

"Work on this scale would not have been possible without a large, coordinated international effort," Pera said. "More laboratories are joining the (initiative) even now for the next phase of its work. It is unique in the embryonic stem cell field in terms of international collaborative studies."

Pera said an overarching goal of the forum and the initiative is to spark more large-scale collaboration and cooperation in the hunt for stem cell knowledge and its potentially life-saving applications.

"I hope that the (initiative) will create a precedent for future international collaborations in stem cell research," Pera said. "The role for such effort lies in addressing questions where data from large numbers of stem cell lines from many different laboratories are required to reach overarching conclusions about the properties of stem cells or the techniques used to study them."

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the University of Southern California

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