The Center for Pediatric Stem/Progenitor Cell Translational Research, centered at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), is a multidisciplinary partnership Center of Excellence that unifies investigators and research programs across basic science, translational, and medical disciplines for a common goal - the advancement of cellular therapies for the treatment of childhood diseases. This Center brings together a new research team and capitalizes on the depth and breadth of translational research at each of the respective participating institutions. The Center proposes three research projects that encompass central themes of cell expansion and reconstitution, transplantation and cell fate, pediatric nonhuman primate models, and in vivo imaging, and includes human stem and progenitor cells (e.g., endothelial, hematopoietic, embryonic stem cells [UC06]). The proposed projects are supported by four Cores (Administrative, Cell and Vector, Nonhuman Primate, Bioinformatics and Biostatistics) which will offer state-of-the art services and training to investigators and their students and staff. In addition, the proposed Pilot and Feasibility Program will build on established programs and a long-standing commitment to providing opportunities to investigators, while fostering collaborations. The Center will develop a mechanism for shared resources and databases, and work towards bringing translational studies to clinical application. While stem cells hold great potential for treating a variety of different childhood diseases, very little is understood about them. Before cell-based therapies can be considered for human use, safety and benefit must be shown. If imaging techniques can be developed that allows one to monitor the cells over time, this would provide a very powerful tool to determine the fate of the cells after injection into humans.
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