CRYo-banking of Stem cells for human therapeutic application

Objective

Stem cells are at the centre of biomedical research. The development of human stem cell therapies will have to build on a safe and reliable supply of human stem cells which must be assured by cell banking. Currently, the isolation, identification and culture of stem cells are not standardised between laboratories, and reproducibility of protocols is limited. Today's banking approaches still rely on storing sources of stem cells rather than on banking of defined, well-characterised stem cell populations (both adult and embryonic). Cryopreservation of stem cells itself is not yet optimised and validated for the different cell types, and multiple cell biological and biophysical challenges remain to be addressed in order to define optimised cryopreservation protocols.
The problems currently limiting the routine application of stem cell banking with a therapeutic perspective will be addressed by the CRYSTAL project. The consortium will develop tools and optimised procedures to enable cryopreservation of different stem cell types and allow safe production of sufficient numbers of high-quality cells for future human therapy. This will comprise standardised protocols and tools for stem cell isolation, identification and culture, novel approaches to their cryopreservation (e.g. novel cryoprotectants, freezing in different conformations) and an automated quality control system for stem cell preparations.
Five stem cell research laboratories providing four different sources of adult (from cord blood, bone marrow and placenta) and human embryonic stem cells have teamed with two partners specialising in applied banking and fundamental cryobiological research. CRYSTAL is thus in a position to solve existing problems in an integrated, systematic approach and to provide standardised, reproducible methods and tools to advance therapeutic stem cell research in Europe.'

Fields of science

• medical and health sciences › medical biotechnology › cells technologies › stem cells
• engineering and technology › electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering › electronic engineering › automation and control systems
• medical and health sciences › clinical medicine › obstetrics and gynaecology › obstetrics

Programme(s)

• FP6-LIFESCIHEALTH - Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health: Thematic Priority 1 under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006.

Topic(s)

• LSH-2005-1.2.4-4 - Methodological research to underpin stem cell banking

Call for proposal

FP6-2005-LIFESCIHEALTH-6
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

STREP - Specific Targeted Research Project

Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE /CLINICAL CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Address

Kerpener Str. 62
Cologne
Germany

Participants (8)

CRYO-SAVE GROUP NV

Netherlands

Address

Ijsselkade 8
Zutphen

MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

Austria

Address

Spitalgasse 23
Vienna

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN

Belgium

Address

Oude Markt 13
Leuven

UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP

Belgium

Address

Prinsstraat 13
Antwerpen

ARTTIC

France

Address

58 A Rue Du Dessous Des Berges
Paris

TISSUEGNOSTICS GMBH

Austria

Address

Taborstrasse 10/2/8
Wien

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.

Germany

Address

Hansastraße 27C
München

UNIVERSITÄT ZÜRICH

Switzerland

Address

Rämistr. 71
Zurich