UCSD Human Stem Cell Core Facility Now Open for Business

By Leslie Franz I October 10, 2005

Karl Willert, director of the Stem Cell Resource, and Lawrence Goldstein, professor of cellular and molecular medicine and director of UCSD's stem cell training program.

A new facility developed to serve as a hub for human embryonic stem cell research (hESC) is now up and running at UCSD. Located on the fifth floor of the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center, the laboratory will maintain and characterize a number of established human embryonic stem cell lines, train scientists in the basic techniques to work with these cells, and provide laboratory space to conduct research on the cell lines.

The core facility presently has the following resources:

-Wet bench, office and desk space
-A fully-equipped cell culture room
-A microscope room with an upright fluorescent Zeiss microscope (with plans to obtain a demo Olympus confocal microscope specifically to image stem cells)
-Laboratory equipment and supplies to support molecular biology research

"For scientists considering the use of hESCs in their research, we believe that this facility will greatly simplify their transition into this field," said laboratory director Karl Willert. "We hope that this facility will promote hESC research and will serve as a useful resource for many UCSD laboratories."

The lab space is funded completely by non-federal sources, allowing for the conduct of research on hESC lines that are not listed on the National Institutes of Health registry. The core facility will be particularly important and useful for anyone who wants to work on unapproved lines but does not want to do so in their own lab, said Willert.

Scientists are welcome to contact Willert about using this space for their own research on hESCs. Laboratory supplies and reagents will be available on a recharge basis. A short lab course on how to handle hESCs is being developed, with plans to offer the course this winter.

The laboratory is located at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center, 5th floor, Offices 5333 to 5336, Research Lab 5347, bays 5A-5DD, Cell Culture 5348 and Microscopy 5337. Willert can be contacted at 858-822-3235.