(2006-2008, CEEX 65);  Principal investigator: Mihaela Economescu (Chivu) PhD

P2 Funding: 70.000 Euro

Partners:

FUNDENI CLINICAL INSTITUTE Project Director: Prof. Univ.Dr. Irinel Popescu Dr. Simona Dima Dr. Razvan Iacob Dr. Camelia Dobrea

STEFAN S. NICOLAU INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY Project Manager: Dr. Mihaela Chivu Dr. Laura Necula Dr. Cosmin Stancu

ONCOLOGY INSTITUTE Project Manager: Prof. Univ.Dr. Rodica Anghel

VICTOR BABES NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY Project Manager: Acad. Laurenţiu M. Popescu

Objectives:

1. Ex vivo expansion of human hematopoietic stem cells harvested from mobilized peripheral blood and phenotypic and functional characterization of the expansion product.
2. In vitro differentiation towards hepatic cell lines of human hematopoietic stem cells harvested from mobilized peripheral blood and phenotypic and functional characterization of the differentiation product.
3. Establishment of an animal model with liver insufficiency and in vivo testing of the regenerative capacity induced by isolated and purified stem cells from peripheral blood, as well as of hepatic progenitor cells obtained in vitro.
4. Comparative study on animal models with liver insufficiency, of in vivo grafting of hepatocyte-like cells by transplanting human hematopoietic stem cells obtained from peripheral blood through isolation and purification of CD34+ cells (lot 1), or through isolation, purification, and ex vivo expansion (lot 2).

Results: