Program in Regenerative Medicine: Duncan Lab Expansion

Project Description Narrative:

Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and liver disease are major health problems in Wisconsin, costing the state over $1.1 billion. Although preventive measures such as diet and exercise can improve health significantly, the availability of new treatments will be required to eradicte such diseases. Although intense effort has been focused on generating adult stem cells, embryonic stem (ES) cells are the only cells that have the capacity to generate all cell types and therefore have huge potential as a tool to not only study, but cure many diseases.

ES cells renew indefinitely, can be genetically manipulated, and have the capacity to differentiate into all cell types. For ES cell-based therapeutics to be successfull, scientists must fully understand how these cells differentiate (produce different cell types) as well as behave in animal models of disease.

Through this award, the Medical College of Wisconsin will initiate a Program in Regenerative Medicine, by creating an infrastructure for this research in the Duncan Laboratory and generating preliminary results in human ES cell culture and manipulation to examine the role of specific factors that have been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and control of cholesterol levels.