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osteoarthritis is a huge problem around the world and in the united states today
it's a disease affecting the cartilage of the joint issue
it affects over twenty-one million adults
once the joint issue
is damaged it doesn't have the ability to repair itself
and the articular cartilage is important because it allows the joints
to absorb shock and also to rotate and glide smoothly against each other
because there is no treatment today
there's an urgent need for a therapy
this is where
our cells come into the picture
we're able to generate
cartilage cells
from human embryonic stem cells which may be suitable for repair of damaged
articular cartilage in osteoarthritis
it all starts here in the lab
the human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells that we use in
our studies they're stored in a tank of liquid nitrogen
in the tissue culture room the cells are maintained in an incubator these are carefully
controlled conditions
which will allow them to
proliferate and again under the conditions that we have established, begin to
differentiate into cartilage cells
everyday we take the cells out of the incubator
and we look at them under the microscope to be sure that they're still growing
properly
after the cells have been cultured for a period of time we confirm that they've
appropriately differentiated what we're able to do is mimic these
conditions
in-vitro in a culture dish and staining them
with chemicals which will detect their cartilage genes
in order to test the cells we need to develop animal models
as well as methods and approaches for introducing the cells into the joint
accordingly the university has filed a patent
for this technology
because they saw the potential for commercialization
commercialization is the most efficient way
to get long-term
usage of that research it's very rewarding for the faculty
it's a return on investment to the state
and it's actually fun
it's new and it's different through partnership with university of connecticut research
and development corporation a company named chondrogenics has been formed
it's the first
biotechnology company to develop out of the state of connecticut stem cell
initiative chondrogenics has just received a significant grant in which we will test
whether or not
these cells can really repair damaged articular cartilage
there's a long way to go still we're really at the very initial stages
and very much in the research which is necessary to establish that their safe
and that they're going to be a feasible treatment for osteoarthritis in the
future