OLD_Collaborative Research Center 655

Cells into tissues: Stem cell and progenitor commitment and interaction during tissue formation

This SFB combines the traditionally separate disciplines of cell and developmental biology, bioengineering and medicine in an innovative way to understand how stem and progenitor cells form tissues. Our overall goal is to combine basic science discoveries with clinical applications in this area. While the former will always remain a goal in itself, success in the latter will be particularly rewarding, as it may help to overcome the lack of donor organs in transplantation medicine, allow renewal of altered tissues in degenerative disorders, and cure patients through cell replacement strategies.

Our approach will be to study how tissues are formed and maintained by the activity of stem cells and progenitor cells for these tissues. We will particularly focus on somatic stem and progenitor cells for two paradigmatic organ systems: the hematopoietic system and the nervous system. We will conduct our studies in the vertebrate model organisms mouse, axolotl and zebrafish, each of which provides unique experimental advantages for conducting basic research into the problem of how cells form tissues. For the hematopoietic system, we will be able to directly translate the insights derived from the model organisms into clinical application in humans. The vision is that also for other tissues, the interplay between cell biological studies and clinical application of stem and progenitor cells will open up new avenues towards regenerative therapies.

The following overview shows the main research focus of this SFB and the classification of the project sections into these areas.

Project	Project leader	Keywords
A1	Stewart / Anastassiadis
A2	Huttner
A3	Brand	Regeneration, adult neurogenesis, neural stem cells, zebrafish
A4	Tanaka	Regeneration, spinal cord, neural stem cells
A6	Bornstein / Ehrhart-Bornstein	Neuroendocrine, progenitor cells, adrenal
A7	Solimena	ICA512, insulin, islets
A8	Breier	Mouse brain development, Vascular endothelial growth factor
A9	Lammert	Vascular tube formation, Vasculogenesis, Angiogenesis
A11	Braun-Dullaeus	Vascular proliferative disease; atherosclerosis, smooth muscle
A12	Bornhäuser / Werner	Blood, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Artificial Stem Cell niche, Biomimetic scaffolds
A13	Corbeil
A14	Jessberger
A15	Buchholz	Acute myeloid leukaemia, conditional knockout, haematopoiesis
A16	Brenner / Thiede	CXCR4, FLT3-ITD, hematopoietic stem cell
A17	Ehninger	Hematopoietic stem cell, prominin, tissue chirmerism
JRG	Weidinger