The purpose of this research is to develop satisfactory techniques to control culturing of marrow tissue to produce specific hematopoietic cell types in large amounts. The discovery of cell growth factors and ability to produce them as purified recombinant molecule, along with the potential use of molecular biology for the modification of hematopoietic cells, had opened a new era for the design and manipulation of these cell types. Current technology for culturing stem cells is slow, intensive and limited to the amount of progeny that can be obtained from only a few cubic centimeters of cell culture per week. Modern mammalian cell culture techniques of extended surfaces will be applied to stimulate stromal growth and stem cell production. The techniques developed should be applicable to many other cell types that will be important in conditions related to immune systems.
