Centre for Stem Cell Research

Cellular reprogramming and its applications - Disease modeling and Haplobanking

The area of cellular reprogramming technology is coordinated by R. V. Shaji at CSCR. This is now being applied to two areas of disease modeling and haplobanking. Towards understanding the mechanisms of reprogramming, a shRNA library is being used to investigate the role of epigenetic factors in different stages of reprogramming. Results so far have identified specific histone methylases and protein arginine methylases involved in the late stages of reprogramming. The reprogramming technology is also being applied to the development of disease models of various bone marrow failure syndromes – Fanconi anemia, Diamond Blackfan anemia and congenital dyserythropoietic anemia. A major translational effort has also been initiated towards establishing a “haplobank”, where the field and clinical aspects are being coordinated by Dolly Daniel and Alok Srivastava. This involves obtaining blood mononuclear cells from HLA haplotype homozygous normal individuals and creating a bank of these cells from which iPSCs are generated in a GMP compliant manner. This is part of an international consortium called the Global Alliance for iPSC Therapies (GAiT) for potential use in regenerative medicine in the future.