UC Davis established its Stem Cell Program to combine and coordinate campus resources and to ensure success for the translation of bench research into clinical applications for patients. The program's overarching goal is to prevent, reverse, improve or cure human diseases by application of stem cell therapies, using adult stem cells in immediate applications and, potentially, embryonic stem cells in the future when safety and efficacy can be demonstrated.

Program Goals

• Perform detailed comparisons of stem cells from a variety of age groups (e.g., fetal, infant, juvenile, adult) to human embryonic stem cells differentiated toward defined lineages. Studies will use animal models of health and disease, including immune deficient mice, small and large animal models and non-human primate models.
  
  
• Facilitate and enhance collaborations between basic, translational and clinical faculty in disease-specific focus groups.
  
  
• Perform high quality, basic and translational "bench to bedside" research, leading to safe and effective clinical trials for stem and progenitor cell-mediated tissue repair and regeneration.

UC Davis has a multidisciplinary research program, which brings together School of Medicine  faculty with other established research groups and investigators in the university, including biological sciences, veterinary medicine, engineering, as well as programs in business, law and bioethics. Building upon these collaborative strengths, the Stem Cell Program is developing, with leading scientists and nationally recognized laboratory planners, a stem cell research center in Sacramento and will integrate with other established stem cell efforts on the UC Davis campus. The center will include a state-of- the-art Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility that will enable researchers to easily move cellular therapies studied in small and large animal models into clinical trials in human patients.

UC Davis Stem Cell Center

Within the walls of a former warehouse on its Sacramento campus, UC Davis is creating a cutting edge research center for stem cells that will encourage collaboration and innovation. This 100,000 square-foot facility is set to open in fall 2008, where it will be adjacent to the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center, which is designed to help ensure that scientific advances reach patients. Nearby are the UC Davis Medical Center, outpatient clinics, the UC Davis Cancer Center, a research institute for the study of neurodevelopmental disorders known as the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, and numerous other health-care related programs and facilities.

Artist's rendition of the 100,000 square-foot UC Davis Stem Cell Center in Sacramento, which is now under construction and set to open in Sept. 2008.

Along with housing a good manufacturing practice facility, the stem cell center also will include approximately 45,000 square-feet of primary wet laboratory and support space. Additionally, within the complex will be a shared vector core, immunodeficient mouse/toxicology vivarium and a microscopy core. It will also include a 1,100 square-foot research cell sorter core, 11,000 square-feet of space for academic, postdoctoral and administrative offices, along with training and conference rooms. Another 1,600 square feet will be devoted to dry research laboratory space.

Numerous collaborations currently are underway throughout the university's two campus locations, with more than 110 basic, translational and clinical faculty involved with the program. The new center is designed to further enhance these interactions by serving as a centralized facility for bringing together stem cell researchers to share equipment and ideas.

Translational Research

With an ability to repair damaged tissue and develop into specialized cells and organs, stem cells have the potential to have a major impact in medicine and health care. Cutting-edge research on potential stem and progenitor cell therapies is in full motion across UC Davis. Before bringing stem cell therapies from the laboratory to the patient, it is imperative that safe and scientifically sound research studies are conducted.

For a number of years, UC Davis researchers have been working on stem cell-related investigations and translational designed to help lead to clinical trials. That expertise has been recognized in the form of grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine  (CIRM). For example, in 2005, thanks to the work of Alice Tarantal, a professor of pediatrics who's working on research related to fetal diseases and corrective therapies, the NIH funded UC Davis as one of only two centers of excellence in the nation for translational human stem cell research. UC Davis also was among CIRM's first grant recipients when it was awarded a stem cell training grant in 2006 to advance research and training opportunities for young scientists.

In 2007, senior investigators Mark Zern, Alice Tarantal, Ebenezer Yamoah, and Hari Reddi helped UC Davis secure multi-year grants totaling approximately $8 million from CIRM. The state agency added to that total by awarding $2.8 million for construction of the UC Davis Translational Human Embryonic Stem Cell Shared Research facility on the Davis campus, which will be under the direction of Tarantal.

Working Toward Stem Cell Breakthroughs — Disease-Specific Focus Groups

The UC Davis stem cell program brings together more than 100 clinicians and scientists from a variety of disciplines and departments throughout the university. This is truly a collaborative approach. Imagine a research team calling upon the expertise of a vascular surgeon as they plan the clinical trials for peripheral artery disease. The insights gained from a surgeon's knowledge of the vascular system could be invaluable for the scientist hoping to restore blood flow to a patient's limbs using stem cell therapy. Likewise, the ophthalmologist, internist, heart specialist, oncologist, and other specialty physicians all have much to offer to the laboratory researcher when it comes to developing new ideas and pathways for stem cell investigations.

The UC Davis program brings together physicians and scientists within a number of “disease-specific” focus groups, where the sharing of clinical knowledge and laboratory experiences could move stem cell discoveries rapidly forward. Currently, the focus group areas include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Liver disease
• Eye degeneration/blindness
• Vascular group/( peripheral artery disease, heart disease, heart attacks, biological pacemakers )
• Blood cell disorders (hematopoiesis -- regeneration of the blood-forming system)
• Skin disorders (non-healing skin ulcers, melanoma, burns)
• HIV Treatment (modified hESC-derived stem cell transplantation)
• Neurological diseases (Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's)
• Kidney disease
• Cartilage and bone abnormalities
• Bladder disorders
• Lung disease
• Hearing loss and inner ear cilia repair
• Immunology and immunotherapeutics for cancer
• Tumor stem cells
• Diabetes