Oregon Health & Science University

Oregon Stem Cell Center

The Oregon Stem Cell Center (OSCC), housed in the Biomédical Research Building on the OHSU medical campus in Portland, was created on January 1, 2004, to provide a hub for stem cell biology research at OHSU. Initial funding was provided by a three—year, $4.5 million grant from Oregon Opportunity, a $500 million fund supported by public and private dollars, which makes grants to promote biomédical and biosciences research. The focus of the OSCC, the first facility of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, is on adult stem cells and their use as therapies in human diseases, particularly diseases of the liver and pancreas. A priority of OSCC is rapid technology transfer from basic research in stem cell biology to preclinical trials in animal models, followed by human clinical trials.

The OSCC has three core laboratories, which also provide cell development and management services for research in other OSCC departments: a monoclonal antibody production core, a cell sorting core, and a cell isolation core. The center (as of 2007) was directed by Markus Grompe, M.D., professor in the departments of molecular and medical genetics and pediatrics at OHSU, and the core laboratories are directed by Philip Streeter, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and a member of the OHSU Center for Hématologie Malignancies. The third faculty member affiliated with the OSCC is Soren Impey, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Development Biology.

The OSCC intends to recruit three more faculty members over the next few years, with an emphasis on those who conduct basic research into stem cells, particularly nuclear reprogramming, cell fate plasticity, and stem cells of the lung, liver, pancreas, and intestine. In addition, four OHSU faculty members are currently affiliated with OSCC: William H. Fleming, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine; Brian Johnstone, Ph.D., adjunct professor in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation; Shoukhrat Mitalipov, Ph.D., assistant scientist and codirector of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Embryonic Stem Cell Core Laboratory at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC); and Melissa Hirose Wong, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Dermatology and assistant professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

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