The National Stem Cell Bank at the WiCell Research Institute in Madison announced Friday it has received select human embryonic stem cell lines from a leading stem cell engineering company.
We're moving closer to having all the lines available to researchers around the world,"" said Janet Kelly, communications director for WiCell.
The addition of the three new lines from the San Diego based company Novocell means the National Stem Cell Bank will now have 14 of the 21 cell lines registered with the National Institutes
of Health.
WiCell, a supporting organization to UW-Madison, was named the nation's first cell bank in September 2005 by NIH, according to a University Communications release. So far, Wisconsin hosts the only one.
""It was quite an honor for Wisconsin and for WiCell to be chosen for that among all the various other organizations in the United States that could have been chosen,"" Kelly said.
She said WiCell is moving toward having all 21 stem cell lines deposited at the bank.
""With the recent addition of these three, we're getting that much closer to our goal,"" she said. ""We still are working with two other providers to receive their stem cell lines.""
Kelly said these additions not only advance stem cell science at the university, but around the world.
""It's making stem cell lines that are available to be used for federally funded research available in a much more efficient and lower cost method through the National Stem Cell Bank,"" she said.
According to Kelly, the researchers are currently characterizing the cells and learning about them. Their discoveries will be posted at www.nationalstemcellbank.org.
""As researchers want to know about the different characteristics of the cells and how best to use them in their own research, we'll have a wealth of information for them,"" she said.
