Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Disease Research

The aim of this study is to determine the contribution of genetic factors to the pathogenesis of diseases, including diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Hirschsprung's disease, and autism. Patient-derived cellular models of diseases will be developed, which will require the collection of blood samples from patients and healthy individuals in order to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for the development of iPSC-derived human cell cultures. These human cellular models will be phenotyped using a variety of methods, including cellular, molecular, and biochemical assays. Because these human cellular models will retain the genetic background from the patients and control subjects, this will allow us to determine the contribution of genetics to disease phenotypes. Such disease-specific pluripotent stem cell lines will be invaluable tools for many basic and translational research applications, including pathophysiological studies in a developmental context, and innovation and screening of small molecule drugs capable of reversing the disease phenotype and potentially leading to a cure for a broad range of diseases, where appropriate in vitro or in vivo disease models do not exist.