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Stem Cell Research at ICH


Part of the research in the Developmental Biology Unit concerns stem cells for repair and regeneration. This is part of a wider ICH initiative into stem cell research.

Stem cell research at ICH

At the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), there are now five integrated research groups with interests in different aspects of neural stem cell biology, as well as groups working on progenitors for repair from other tissues (e.g. kidney, bone). Their focus is the use of patient-derived stem cells for tissue repair and the study of endogenous human stem cells avoiding problems of tissue rejection presented by non-autologous cell sources.


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Cells in cortical dysplasia (an abnormality of brain development) stained for a markers of neural stem cells

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Neural stem cells (green) in the subventricular zone of the brain genetically targeted by viral injections

Ongoing work spans four steps towards the development of stem cell therapies:

1. basic research on mechanisms regulating endogenous embryonic and adult neural progenitor/stem cells and their plasticity

2. isolation and propagation of stem cell populations and characterisation and manipulation of neural stem cells in vitro

3. analysis of the therapeutic potential of stem cells in disease models

4. development of methods for tracking transplanted stem cells in vivo

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A malignant brain tumour arising from neural stem cells

The clinical conditions currently addressed by neural stem cell research at ICH are:

  • congenital malformation of the enteric nervous system of the gut
  • blindness
  • brain tumours
  • spinal cord injury
  • ischemic brain damage
  • malformations of cortical development
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Human embryonic spinal cord cells grown as neurospheres and stained for the neural stem cell marker nestin


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Human embryonic spinal cord cells grown as neurospheres and stained for the neural stem cell marker vimentin

Summary of disease-led stem cell research

Neural stem cells

Therapeutic potential of enteric nervous system stem cells for treatment of congenital gut malformation

Vassilis Pachnis, NIMR

Role of endogenous stem cells in childhood brain tumours

Retinal stem cell therapy

Tracking grafted neural stem cells using MRI

Spinal Cord Repair

Neural stem cells in malformations of cortical development

Cell-cell interactions in the regulation of neural stem cell responses to brain injury
Other stem cells

Osteoprogenitors for bone repair of craniofacial malformations
Renal stem cells for therapy for congenital renal malformations

The ICH is ideally placed for supporting these research programmes as:

  • research at ICH/GOSH is characterised by the integration of basic scientists, clinician scientists and clinicians and has recently appointed two clinician scientists to work on stem cell pathology and therapy
  • ICH has unique access to human tissues from biopsies and autopsies for the derivation of stem cell populations for study of basic biology and for therapy
  • ICH has experience of banking human tissue in a research oriented way – in paraffin wax, frozen samples, and as cell lines, facilitating study of endogenous stem cells
  • ICH already has established projects with Research Ethics Committee approval using human tissues for research on stem cell therapy
  • ICH neural stem cell research is located within a wider research grouping investigating regulation of neural progenitors in mammalian forebrain development, retinal development and neural tube closure and mechanisms regulating axon guidance.
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Detection of neurofilament protein in differentiating human embryonic spinal cord cells grown as neurospheres.

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Human embryonic spinal cord cells grown as neurospheres

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Dissociated cells from a developing human spinal cord stained for the neural stem cell marker nestin.

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Page last modified on 20 mar 11 09:36