The next workshop is on February 24th, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. To register for the workshop, please fill out and fax us the registration form. Summary of Topics:
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Lecture:
· Introduction to mesenchymal cell biology.
· Isolation, culture and cell phenotype of mesenchymal stem cells.
· Clinical applications of mesenchymal stem cells. Laboratory:
· Fixing and staining of human and mouse mesenchymal cell cultures.
· Quantification of human and mouse CFU-F.
· Culture expanded mesenchymal cell phenotypic characterization.
Endothelial Cells - The CFU-Hill Assay
Lecture:
· Culture of CFU-Hill colonies using EndoCult.
· Relationship between endothelial and hematopoietic progenitors.
· Role of endothelial cells, progenitors and endothelial-supporting cells in disease. Laboratory:
· Mononuclear cell isolation and CFU-Hill Assay set-up.
· Identification and enumeration of CFU-Hill colonies.
· Fixing and staining of CFU-Hill colonies.
Neural Stem Cells
Lecture:
· Introduction to neural stem cell biology of the embryonic and adult mammalian CNS.
· Functional characterization of neural stem and progenitor cells in vitro in the Neurosphere Assay and discussion of the limitations of the Neurosphere Assay.
· Neural stem cell transplantation in CNS disease and injury.
· Discrimination and quantification of neural stem and progenitor cells in the Neural Colony-Forming Cell (NCFC) Assay.
· Other techniques used in neural stem cell culture. Laboratory:
· Identification and observation of the cortex and striata from a day 14 mouse embryo CNS and/or subventricular zone (SVZ) region in the adult mouse CNS under a dissecting microscope.
· Observation of mouse and rat neurosphere cultures.
· Dissociation of mouse neurospheres using mechanical versus chemical methods.
· Identification and quantification of colonies in the neural colony-forming cell (NCFC) assay.
· Identification of neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes by immunofluorescence microscopy.
Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Lecture:
· Introduction to human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell biology.
· Feeder-independent culture of hESC.
· Characterization of undifferentiated hESC. Laboratory:
· Analysis of morphology of hESC in culture.
· Identification of differentiated and undifferentiated cells by morphological criteria.
· Passaging hESC cultured in feeder-independent conditions.
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