HISTOCOMPATIBLE PRIMATE EMBYONIC STEM CELLS (ESCS)

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. The goal of this project is to generate important new insights concerning reprogramming of primate somatic cells to the pluripotent state employing somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and direct reprogramming (iPS) approaches and to conduct comparative pluripotency assessments using expression profiling, genetic and epigenetic analysis and in vitro and in vivo differentiation assays. We will also determine the potential of monkey pluripotent cells to contribute to chimeras. We hypothesize that similar to their mouse counterparts, primate ESCs and iPS cells have the potential to integrate and participate in development of chimeric offspring. To test this hypothesis, we propose to inject GFP-expressing monkey ESCs and iPS cells into monkey preimplantation embryos and transfer the resultant chimeric embryos into recipients to establish pregnancies. Chimeric fetuses and full-term offspring will subsequently be studied for tissue distribution and germ line colonization. To date, we carried out a comprehensive expression and epigenetic profiling of rhesus monkey SCNT -ESCs and iPS cells derived from genetically identical parental cells.