To celebrate Stem Cell Awareness Day we highlight the transformative power of stem cell research

This Stem Cell Awareness Day – October 9 – is an opportunity to celebrate the progress being made in stem cell research.

The day raises awareness about the incredible versatility of stem cells which offer exciting and transformative promise and potential – in new medical treatments, in generating healthy cells to replace disease affected cells, in testing drugs for safety and effectiveness, and increasing our understanding of how disease and illness develops.

Stem cells have the unique ability to differentiate into various cell types, making them a driving force behind groundbreaking medical treatments, therapies, and research.

There are two main types of stem cells. Tissue stem cells are found in many of our organs but can usually only create cells of that organ. Pluripotent stem cells that are more primitive and in the lab can be coaxed to form any cell type in the body. Stem cells can be sourced from various tissues, including bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and even adult tissues, opening doors to diverse avenues of exploration.

Although the use of stem cells for future clinical treatments is particularly exciting, it is in research laboratories that stem cells are already making their mark. Research scientists around the world are using different types of stem cells to better understand how stem cells ‘decide’ what to become and how they can influence and control these processes.

Researchers are also using stem cells to speed up the process of developing new drugs and to learn more about how different diseases develop and what happens to our cells during an illness or after an injury.

The University of Melbourne is the administering organisation of Stem Cells Australia, a national research initiative that seeks to harness the potential of stem cells for new diagnostic, therapeutic and biotechnological applications. Stem Cells Australia’s research portfolio spans the use of stem cells in Regenerative Medicine, Disease Modelling and in Designer Cells – where researchers aim to design and construct completely novel types of cells, built to deliver a specific function.

This Stem Cell Awareness Day we highlight some School of Biomedical Sciences researchers working in this exciting area.

The Stem Cell Disease Modelling Lab, co-headed by Alice Pébay and myself, focuses on the study of human pluripotent stem cells for modelling neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative diseases.

The difficulty in obtaining brain or ocular tissue from living people is a major barrier to developing new treatments for these diseases. We can now generate stem cells from adult tissue, and these “induced pluripotent stem cells” (iPSCs) represent a powerful disease modelling tool. Generating iPSCs directly from patients allows cells to be differentiated into specific cells of interest for disease modelling, drug screening, and understanding of fundamental pathogenic mechanisms. We differentiate iPSCs into various cell types of the nervous system, as monolayers or as organoids. Using these cells, we model a range of conditions relate to the eye and brain, in order to establish the molecular events leading to disease development and progression.

Proper development and function of the digestive tract is crucial for good health. Gastrointestinal function relies on the co-ordinated activity of neural circuits in the enteric nervous system, a network of neurons and glia located within the wall of the gut. During development, enteric neurons arise from neural crest cells (stem cells) that emigrate from the caudal hindbrain and migrate into and along the developing gut, differentiating to form all the different subtypes of enteric neurons and glial cells. Our research is focused on the mechanisms controlling the development of the enteric nervous system, its plasticity in adulthood, and the potential of stem cell therapy for treating diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Dr Lincon Stamp was recently awarded $6.5M in funding from the Australian Government’s Medical Research Future Fund Stem Cell Therapies Mission Scheme to lead the development of a safe and effective stem cell-based therapy to restore gut function for a group of paediatric gut motility disorders.