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About the CHB Stem Cell Program
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Every day, doctors and researchers at Children's Hospital Boston witness the devastating effects of diseases like leukemia, diabetes, anemia and heart disease on the lives of the children they treat. Every day, we see very small patients fighting very large battles just to stay alive. Every day toddlers spend their days in blood transfusion units instead of on playgrounds, and every day teenagers live with a restrictive regimen of treatments and the knowledge that their promise of a future is uncertain. For their families, the hope - every day - is very simple: Please give my child the chance to be well.
Children's Hospital believes that stem cell research holds extraordinary potential for the development of therapies that may change the future for the children we see and for the countless others like them throughout the world. In response to this belief, we have established The Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital. The program's sole mission is to explore, understand, and translate the promise of stem cells into effective clinical therapies and treatments.
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| A Wrights/Giemsa stained human embryonic stem cell (hESC) colony on murine embryonic fibroblast feeder cells. The colony contains roughly 50-70 individual hESCs. (Photo: Willy Lensch) |
The Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital brings together premier scientists, investigators and physicians to form one of the top stem cell research units in the world. The Program's physical workspace positions a genomic research facility directly next to a dedicated human embryonic core facility. This unique environment allows researchers, scientists and clinicians from many backgrounds and specialties to combine their expertise in the exploration of stem cells and their potential for therapy and cure.
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The overriding focus of the program is the exploration of stem cell biology as a key to treatments for diseases affecting children. Through an understanding of the role of stem cells in normal development, researchers seek to capture and direct the innate capabilities of stem cells to treat diabetes, Duschenne's muscular dystrophy, blood diseases, spinal cord injury and many other conditions. Research is on-going in a number of areas simultaneously: examining the genetic and molecular triggers that drive embryonic stem cells to develop in various tissues; learning how to push those cells to divide and form specialized tissues; culturing embryonic stem cells and developing new lines to work with; searching for ways to eliminate or control Graft Vs. Host Disease (GVHD) by eliminating the need for donors; and generating a line of universally transplantable cells.
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The Stem Cell Program is affiliated with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Through this affiliation and Children's direct physical proximity to many other world-class hospitals and institutions, the opportunities for external interaction and collaboration are extraordinary. Currently, staff and faculty from three research laboratories work directly with the stem cell program, and many more, both within Children's and in other institutions, are partners in its work.
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The children who are patients at Children's Hospital Boston dream of being healthy and of a future filled with promise. The belief that stem cell research may help make those dreams a reality is what drives the researchers, faculty and staff of the Stem Cell Program.
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