Experimental therapies for liver disease

Description of projects available to graduate students:
A better understanding of liver regeneration and stem cell biology could potentially be applied clinically to improve the treatment of liver disease. Stem cells play a critical role in the physiologic process of cell turnover and regeneration in response to injury. Our research interests involve the bench-to-bedside study of experimental therapies for liver disease, including the use of stem cells and liver cell transplantation. In order to determine the efficacy of allogeneic and xenogeneic liver cell transplantation the laboratory develops animal models that faithfully mimic human liver disease in rodents and non-human primates. It also studies differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) and inducible pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into liver cells. The laboratory uses such cells to repopulate the livers of immune-deficient mice to model and study human liver diseases such as human alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, and cirrhosis. Based on laboratory studies, we and our associates have successfully corrected liver-based metabolic deficiencies in newborns and young children by transplantation of isolated liver cells.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
Cell culture: cell lines, primary cell isolation from liver, culture characterization, lentivirus-mediated gene transfer, ES cell growth and differentiation.
Microscopy and biochemistry: immunohistochemistry, PCR, ELISA, electrophoresis, real-time PCR, Western blotting.
Rodent and non-human primate animal research involving surgery and cell transplantation.