Webinar
NIMH Announces the Establishment of a Repository Supporting Stem Cell Research Relevant to Mental Disorders
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) announces the opening of the NIMH Stem Cell Center (http://www.nimhstemcells.org/) as the newest addition to the NIMH Center for Collaborative Genetic Studies on Mental Disorders (https://www.nimhgenetics.org/), housed at the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (http://rucdr.org/).
Webinar Slides
The Center provides a repository for postnatal-to-adult human control and patient-derived cells and their reprogrammed derivatives, such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), to support stem cell research relevant to mental disorders. The ability of reprogrammed human cells to generate neurons and glia make them potentially groundbreaking tools to study cellular mechanisms underlying human brain development and disorders, to identify novel molecular targets and screen candidate therapeutics to treat these disorders. Realization of the full potential of these tools requires free and open sharing of cellular material with associated phenotypic and genotypic data among researchers. This is necessary to achieve sample sizes with adequate statistical power for robustly detecting phenotypic differences among diverse patient populations. The NIMH Stem Cell Center is designed to integrate the banking of human primary and reprogrammed cells with the comprehensive genetic and clinical data capabilities of the NIMH Genetics Center, currently with ~100,000 samples of blood and/or lymphoblastoid cell lines.
The services of the Stem Cell Center include:
- assistance with receipt of biopsied tissue or cell lines.
- derivation and banking of primary source cells (e.g., fibroblasts, olfactory epithelial cells) from biopsied postnatal through adult human subject tissue, submitted by researchers.
- banking of source cell lines submitted by researchers.
- banking/validation of iPSCs or similar reprogrammed/de-differentiated cells submitted by researchers.
- some iPSC derivation based on NIMH priorities.
- distribution of cell lines to qualified researchers.
- extensive quality assurance for all cells derived by or submitted to the Center, documented with Certificate of Analysis.
- the repository does not generate or bank human fetal or embryonic stem cells (hESCs).
The repository has an external Stem Cell Resources Scientific Panel to provide advice on quality control and standard protocols for cell line establishment, validation and maintenance (both source cells and iPSCs). Members of the panel include Drs. Ricardo Dolmetsch, James Ellis, Fred Gage, Hongjun Song, Lorenz Studer and James Thomson. RUCDR is also receptive to feedback from the entire stem cell community.
The NIMH Stem Cell Center is currently accepting relevant biomaterials for banking in the repository. A webinar on Thursday, December 8 at 2:00 p.m. EST will provide details on the repository and access to services by the research community. The webinar can be accessed at http://www.nimhstemcells.org/.
NIMH supports research relevant to mental disorders, including but not limited to anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia.
