UCSD Human Stem Cell Core Facility

Overview

The UCSD Human Stem Cell Core Facility, located at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, is an integral component of UC San Diego's commitment to Human Embryonic Stem Cell (hESC) research. Karl Willert, Ph.D., directs this recharge core facility, dedicated to maintaining and characterizing established human embryonic and pluripotent stem cell lines, training scientists in the basic techniques to work with these cells, and providing laboratory space to conduct research on the cell lines.

The facility maintains, monitors and banks previously established hESC lines. Since hESCs tend to differentiate and even mutate spontaneously in culture, all the lines available at the core facility are routinely monitored to ensure that their genomic integrity and undifferentiated state are maintained.

The facility provides training for those wishing to utilize hESCs or hPSCs as a model system. Techniques of manipulating hESC in culture can be challenging, and the facility helps researchers learn techniques that can be used later to initiate hESC research in their own labs.

Space is provided to researchers to conduct their own research, fostering collaborations and interactions between researchers and laboratories around UCSD. As the core facility is exclusively supported with non-federal funds, it serves as a "safe haven" in which researchers can work with cell lines which are not listed in the National Institutes of Health's hESC registry. For those investigators whose labs are partially supported with federal money, the 'safe haven' can help them avoid a conflict between their federally and non-federally funded research projects.

HESCCF Services are provided on a recharge basis.

Contact Information

Director
Karl Willert, Ph.D.
kwillert 'at' ucsd.edu
Tel: 858-822-3235

Technical and Management Information
Eric O'Connor
ericoconnor 'at' ucsd.edu
Tel: 858-822-3244