[UCI-Calit2] LifeChips Seminar Friday, Jan. 21

Shellie Nazarenus snaz at calit2.uci.edu
Wed Jan 19 15:00:34 PST 2011


LifeChips Seminar Series Presents: 

 

"Electric Fields and Microfluidics Reveal Neural Stem Cell Fate
Potential" 

 

Speaker: Dr. Lisa A. Flanagan 

 

Friday, January 21st, 2011 

4 p.m. 

Calit2 Building, Seminar Room 3008 

Free and open to the public - refreshments provided 

 

Abstract:

Development of a label-free method for purifying stem cells prior to
transplantation would remove a significant roadblock for the use of stem
cells as therapies for human disease and injury.  Generation of
homogeneous populations of cells for transplantation will help define
the precise contributions of specific cell types to repair and remove
unwanted tumorigenic cells prior to transplantation. We have developed
novel microfluidic dielectrophoresis (DEP) devices that distinguish
neural cell types without the use of markers, which are necessary for
most conventional cell separation techniques. Our data show that DEP
distinguishes stem cells from more differentiated progeny and dielectric
properties consistently reflect fate potential across multiple sets of
neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) and over time in culture.  Exposing
mouse and human NSPCs to DEP forces necessary for cell separation did
not alter survival, proliferation, or differentiation, establishing DEP
as non-toxic. Furthermore, high frequency DEP can be used to enrich
NSPCs biased to make neurons, confirming our hypothesis that DEP-based
sorting can isolate NSPCs with specific fate potential.

 

About the Speaker:

Dr. Flanagan is an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of California,
Irvine.  Her research focuses on the regulation of stem cells and their
differentiation along neuronal lineages. Using mouse and human neural
stem cells, Dr. Flanagan's lab is investigating the role of
extracellular matrix cues in these processes with the goal of developing
three-dimensional biomaterials suitable for use as transplantation
scaffolds for cell-based therapies. They are also exploring novel
approaches using microfluidics to manipulate and characterize stem cells
in collaboration with members of the Biomedical Engineering Department
at University of California, Irvine.  Dr. Flanagan received her B.S. in
Zoology/Psychology from Duke University and her Ph.D. from the
Neuroscience Program at UCSD.

 

 

 

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