National University of Singapore

STEM CELLS: MEDICINE'S NEW FRONTIER

Dr Ariff Bongso, Research Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Date: 23 August 2006 (Wednesday)
Time: 5.00 pm
Venue: USP Conference Room (Level 7, Blk ADM)

About the Speakers:

Ariff Bongso PhD, MSc (Canada), FRCOG (UK), DSc (Sing), DVM, FSLCOG, DSc (Sri Lanka) is currently Research Professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the National University of Singapore (NUS). He concurrently was Scientific Director of the In Vitro Fertilization program of the National University Hospital, Singapore from April 2000 to April 2005 and held a Special Professorship with the University of Nottingham, School of Human Development from Jan 2000 to Dec 2002. For his outstanding contributions to In Vitro Fertilization and Stem Cell Biology, he was conferred the National Science & Technology (Singapore) Award in 1988; the Outstanding University Researcher Award (NUS) in 1997; the National Science Award (Singapore) in 2002; the Asian Innovation Award (Gold) from the Far East Economic Review in 2002; the Excellence for Singapore Award in 2003 and the ASEAN Outstanding Scientist Award in 2006. He has been a founder scientist of a leading biotechnology company Embryonic Stem Cell International (ESI), Singapore; holds several patents and has over 450 internationally refereed publications, books and book chapters. He is on the editorial board of Stem Cells (USA), Reproductive Medicine Reviews (UK); on the advisory board of Human Fertility (UK) and is a committee member of the International Academy of Human Reproduction in Israel.

Abstract:

Rapid advances in the field of assisted conception have led to the isolation and growth of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) from 5 day old embryos left over from In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) programs. These cells are very versatile and can be coaxed into almost all the tissues types of the human body and therefore offers promise in the treatment of a variety of incurable diseases by transplantation and gene therapy, provide an ideal screening tool for potential drugs in the pharmaceutical industry and allows the study of early human development and what goes wrong in infant cancers. Several hESC lines have been registered with the NIH, USA for research, six of which have been produced by our group. All NIH hESC lines have been derived and propagated on mouse feeder cells thus limiting their clinical application for fear of transmission of unwanted agents from mouse to human cells. We reported the protocol and growth of the first hESC line in a completely animal-free in vitro system thus making hESC lines safe to be used for later clinical application. Several groups have also been successful in directing these hESCs into desirable cells and tissues such as pancreatic islets, neurons, heart cells and blood cells for future treatment of diabetes, neuronal, cardiovascular and blood borne diseases by cell based transplantation therapy. Other important studies such as the unraveling of the genetic secrets driving these cells into various tissues have also made much progress and will be useful in future tissue making. Since the origin of hESCs is from donor embryos there is concern that hESC-derived tissues may be rejected after transplantation and as such the customization of tissues for patients via therapeutic cloning and other approaches is being attempted. Progress is also being made on the isolation and differentiation of stem cells isolated from adult organs and the umbilical cord for future cell based therapies. The background and progress of all these studies will be presented and discussed.

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