Translational Research with iPS Cells

Description

The Translational Research with iPS Cells (ITiPS) group, has been created in 2019 and is led by Dra. Mª Esther Gallardo Pérez.

This group has proven experience in the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a model of disease and therapeutical approximation. The discovery of iPS cells by the Nobel Prize laureate Yamanaka in 2006 has meant a clear improvement in the field of the regenerative medicine and therapy. iPSCs have numerous advantages including self-renewal and capacity to differentiate into patient specific cell lineages (pluripotency), reducing the likelihood of rejection. Besides, they don’t have the ethical and legal problems associated with the use of embryonic stem cells. In this scenario iPSCs can be very useful in high throughput drug screenings and also in regenerative medicine through a variety of different approaches including genomic edition with the CRISPR/Cas9 system and cell therapies.

At this moment, our group is focused on the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells from somatic cells of patients with McArdle disease and also with dominant optic atrophy. These cells are being used to generate models of disease to delve into the underlying physiopathological mechanisms and to look for therapies using different strategies. Among them, tissue engineering approximations, CRIPSR/Cas9 genomic edition tool and drug repurposing studies. Our final objective is in line with what is known as personalized medicine (one personalized therapy for each patient).