Fellowship Application, Ed Stanley: Pluripotent Stem Cells & Medical Research
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$638,517.00
Summary
Human Pluripotent Stem Cells are immortal cells that have the ability to turn into any of the cell types found in the body. This means that it is now possible to generate a variety of human cell types in the laboratory, to study how they work, and to find out what goes wrong in different diseases. In this context, the overall aim of my research is to develop pluripotent stem cells for the study of human disease and generate tools that will enable others to use these cells in their own research.
Antigen-presenting cells control immune responses. Different types of these cells do different jobs and affect different diseases. We wish to control these processes by determining how the cells live and die. In particular we are interested in controlling the local immune responses during rejection of islet transplantation, which can cure type 1 diabetes.