ESTABLISHMENT OF A CELL LIBRARY FROM THE BRAZILIAN POPULATION AS A TOOL FOR HIGH THROUGHPUT DRUG SCREENING. REPROGRAMMING OF HUMAN PERIPHERAL BLOOD CELLS INTO INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS.

Abstract

Drug discovery and development are dynamic processes. It is known that new strategies are needed for drug screening, and cell culture models such as induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology could be used as an efficient and cost-effective way of testing new drugs. One major advantage of this approach for drug screening is that it takes into account the role of genetic factors in the individual variation in drug response. The overall objective of this project is to create a library of iPSCs representing the genetic heterogeneity of the Brazilian population, to be used for in vitro studies of toxicity and response to drugs. Before this can be accomplished, several hurdles will need to be overcome. Here we propose as goals the setting up of the methodology for the generation or reprogramming of human somatic cells, like adult dermal fibroblasts or blood cells, into iPSCs, an essential previous step for the establishment of the cell library. Learning how to most efficiently generate iPSCs from human peripheral blood will draw us closer to the clinical applicability, such as cellular therapy as well as high throughput drug screening, of this promising technology.