New Line of Stem Cell Research at Hubrecht Institute: induced Pluripotent Stem cells

16 June 2009

The Hubrecht Institute is to use a new method for making stem cells. It is possible to make stem cells from regular cells through the use of the so-called iPS-method. The institute has taken on Doctor Niels Geijsen, currently at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, to lead this research. The new stem cell research looks promising for the detection and treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's. 

Geijsen is currently working at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston. From July 2009, he will start setting up a research group at the Hubrecht Institute. Geijsen is an expert in the so-called iPS-method, which in full is: induced pluripotent stem cells. Through this method, any human cell can be transformed into a stem cell. iPS stem cells have almost the same properties as embryonic stem cells derived from IVF treatment. The difference is that making iPS stem cells is not associated with any ethical issues at all – whereas embryonic stem cell use is.

A very promising application of the iPS method lies in making cell lines from patients in order to study various diseases. For example, it is possible to let an iPS stem cell from a patient with Alzheimer's disease grow into a nerve cell. This Alzheimer nerve cell is then compared with regular nerve cells which may be able to produce pointers leading to the early detection of the disease. Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute have already made twenty disease-specific cell lines for diseases such as Parkinson and type 1 diabetes.

To go one step further would be to use iPS stem cells for treating the diseases. It is hoped that iPS stem cells can be used in order to replace cells or even organs that are damaged or defect in patients. Tissue that is made from iPS stem cells is therefore mainly composed of the person’s own body cells and will therefore not cause rejection symptoms when it is replaced into the body.

Geijsen was awarded his PhD in 2000 from University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht. Following a postdoctoral placement at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, he has been working at the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Technology at Harvard since 2003. The center is affiliated to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The Hubrecht Institute is a research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and is affiliated to University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht.