Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President
Shirley Ann Jackson and New York State Department of Health
Commissioner Nirav Shah Formally Open New York State-Funded
Center
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Ground-breaking research to advance the application of stem
cells to address critical injuries and diseases will be taking
place at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in a new center
funded by New York state and opened today (June 22, 2012).
The Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research was launched
officially by Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson, New
York State Department of Health Commissioner Nirav Shah, and
Jonathan Dordick, director of the Rensselaer Center for
Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS) and the
Howard P. Isermann ’42 Professor of Chemical and Biological
Engineering. They were joined at the ribbon cutting by Glenn
Monastersky, CBIS operations director and biomedical
engineering professor of practice. Monastersky is also
principal investigator under the $2.45 million grant awarded to
fund the new center, from the New York State Stem Cell Science
Program (NYSTEM).
“The opening of the Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research
marks a milestone on the path toward this important area of
exploration, which promises so much in terms of alleviating
disease and improving health,” said Jackson. “At the center we
will work at the frontiers of this promising discipline in
collaboration with New York state and investigators from across
the region.
“This research complements stem cell research, sponsored by
New York and the National Institutes of Health, that is already
in progress at Rensselaer,” Jackson added. “Due to our
commitment to biotechnology that began over 10 years ago under
The Rensselaer Plan, we are able to link engineering
with the life and physical sciences in ways that allow us to
explore new possibilities. We are grateful to Dr. Shah and the
state of New York for their leadership in this important
research area, and for providing the funding to launch this
center.”
“Governor Cuomo recognizes that stem cell research is a
vital and growing industry that helps create jobs here in the
Capital Region and around the state,” said Nirav R. Shah, M.D.,
M.P.H., New York State Commissioner of Health. “Targeting our
investment in results-oriented research enterprises like this
center will lead to medical advances as well as expand our
economy and make New York the place to be for 21st century
health and science research.”
According to Dordick, the new center continues to place CBIS
and the research conducted there on the leading edge of efforts
to harness advances in biotechnology to address 21st century
health challenges.
“Ranging from our work on the blood anti-coagulant drug
heparin to solutions to fighting some of today’s ‘super bugs’
to important advances in understanding Alzheimer’s disease, we
are focusing our efforts on scientific advances that will
ultimately open the doors to new cures for traumatic injuries
or treatments for long-term conditions and diseases,” Dordick
said. “Now, working with our partners at New York state and
other researchers in the region, we will expand our work on
stem cells to help the medical and scientific research
communities advance efforts to better understand those cells
and how they can be used in medicine.”
Research on stem cells offers promise in an array of health
areas, ranging from trying to regenerate damaged nerve cells
following spinal cord injuries to offering potential cures for
autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus,
rheumatoid arthritis, and Type 1 diabetes. According to the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), stem cells are important
because — unlike other cells in the human body — they are
capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long
periods. In addition, because stem cells are
unspecialized — meaning that they are not associated with any
tissue-specific functions — early research has shown that under
the right circumstances these cells can give rise to cells
associated with specific functions, under a process called
differentiation. Today, according to NIH, scientists are just
beginning to understand the so-called triggers that can start
stem cell differentiation into, for example, nerve, muscle, or
bone cells.
The new state-of-the-art center is housed on the ground
floor of the Rensselaer biotechnology center. In addition to
advanced cell biology research equipment, new lab equipment
acquired with funding from New York state includes an Olympus
VivaView microscopy/incubation system and a Thermo Fisher
Arrayscan cell-imaging system that utilizes advanced optics and
analytical software to guide the analysis of stem cell
development.
The Rensselaer Center for Stem Cell Research and its
associated scientific staff, will enable collaborations with
several New York partners including the New York Neural Stem
Cell Institute, Albany Medical College, the University at
Albany, the University of Rochester Medical School, and the
Trudeau Institute. The main focus of the center is the basic
science critical to development of stem cell-based therapies
for human diseases and traumatic injuries.
“To succeed at the cutting edge of stem cell research,
sophisticated shared resources must be available. The center
that we have designed, funded by the NYSTEM award, will provide
unique and valuable research platforms for stem cell
researchers throughout upstate New York. Many basic principles
of the biology and regulation of pluripotent stem cells remain
to be elucidated and dedicated resources are essential to
support research with stem cells, which offer great potential
for the discovery of new drugs and life-saving medical
therapies,” Monastersky said.
Several researchers at Rensselaer have been involved in stem
cell research for some time. For example, Professor Ravi Kane
and Associate Professor Deanna Thompson have been working on
ways to regenerate nerve tissue. Dordick has led research on
screening toxic molecules, Professor and Biomedical
Engineering Department Head Deepak Vashishth has been working
on regenerating bone tissue, and Assistant Professor of
Biomedical Engineering Ryan Gilbert has worked on providing new
materials for spinal cord injuries
Today’s announcement was followed by a biotechnology public
interest forum, during which three leading scientists presented
on their research related to stem cells:
- Glenn Monastersky: The Challenges and Promise of Stem
Cell Research. He focused on basic stem cell biology and
principles, as well as research goals and challenges. - Associate Professor Deanna Thompson: Neural
Progenitor Cell Response to Hemodynamically-Stimulated
Endothelial Derived Extracellular Matrix and Soluble
Factors. She discussed the development of neural stem
cells in response to various signals and factors from the
surrounding niche. - Assistant Professor Ryan Gilbert: Biomaterial Design
for Spinal Cord and Stem Cell Therapies. He focused on
the application of different types of natural and synthetic
materials in the development of stem cell-based spinal cord
repair therapies.
About CBIS at Rensselaer
The Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary
Studies building (CBIS) at Rensselaer –
opened in 2004 – supports several state-of-the-art research
cores that are available to all Rensselaer faculty, staff and
students and also to external academic and industrial
collaborators and researchers. Today, these research cores
include: analytical biochemistry, bioimaging, bioresearch, cell
and molecular biology, microbiology and fermentation,
microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, proteomics, and stem
cell biology.
