EU-HPSCREG

European human Pluripotent Stem Cell Registry

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research holds promise for regenerative therapies, offers a tool for drug discovery and toxicity tests, for studying human development, disease physiology and gene control. hESC lines are derived in an increasing number of laboratories accompanied by a widening scope of usage and application. This trend has not diminished since human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) became available as research and use of hESC and hiPSC rapidly co-develop. The advancing scope of the field, the increasing count of researchers, laboratories and institutions working with pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) and the ever growing number of hESC and hiPSC lines poses novel challenges, while further justifying the recognized need for a registry of hESC. This need has been addressed by establishing the European hESC registry (EU-hESCreg). The proposed project aims at sustaining and improving operability of EU-hESCreg, and to expand its content and usability in order to respond to the existing and anticipated challenges in the field. The European human pluripotent stem cell registry (EU-hPSCreg) will adapt its registration content and requirements to accommodate hESC and hiPSC. The inclusion of these most relevant pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) will broaden comparability and standardization of cell lines, advance knowledge dissemination and hence reduce the need for generating new hESC lines. The objective of the EU-hPSCreg is to promote access to hPSC lines and to provide transparency about their characteristics, to contribute to the harmonization of hPSC usage and develop it into an international hub. The project will (i) implement transparent criteria for registration, qualification and validation of hPSC, (ii) establish efficient means and tools for internal and external communication and dissemination of information , (iii) provide a reliable technical and regulatory basis for operation and (iv) establish efficient and strategic management.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Human pluripotent cells - embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), are invaluable for studying human development, drug screening and cell therapy. EU is funding the development of a comprehensive public information source for such cells.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The scientific, clinical and commercial utility of stem cells requires that certain ethical and regulatory issues be adhered to. Furthermore, validated scientific information about the cells is essential for their standardised, reproducible and comparable usage. For this purpose, a European human pluripotent stem cell registry (hESCreg) was established in 2006.

Since 2006, there's been an explosion in hESC and iPSC research expanding the areas of applicability of these cells to clinical use and increasing usage of this registry. As a result, hESCreg needs to be further developed in terms of functionality, database design, registration and content usability. To address this need, the EU funded the http://www.hpscreg.eu/ (EU-HPSCREG) (European human Pluripotent Stem Cell Registry) initiative.

Partners incorporated features for the acquisition, registration and qualification of information alongside cell-related ethical and scientific details. The long-term objective is to contribute to the communication, dissemination and harmonisation of the pluripotent stem cell field.

The consortium has laid down a code of conduct for the operational procedures and policies of the registry. In addition, it has implemented standard operating procedures for cell registration, information validation and risk mitigation. Considerable effort has also gone into the database and portal design including the online registration tool as well as a standardised nomenclature for pluripotent stem cells.

A detailed cell registry is a much required tool. Research utilising pluripotent stem cells provides great prospect for gaining insight into human development and developing novel therapies. Through collaboration with other EU-funded projects and community interaction, EU-HPSCREG hopes to disseminate the registry and harmonise research in the field.